


Love and Sacrifice

by Draegaa



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types, Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:04:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21520828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draegaa/pseuds/Draegaa
Summary: Dani is determined to honor Grace's love and repay her sacrifice. Judgement Day is coming, and Dani has a role to fill. She will lead humanity to victory, and create a world where Grace will not have to sacrifice herself again.
Relationships: Grace/Dani Ramos
Comments: 145
Kudos: 283





	1. Prologue

_**Prologue** _

“We got him, Grace.”  _ I love you _ . “You saved me.”  _ I’m so sorry.  _

_ I’m not. _

Dani felt like her heart was being crushed. As though the metal motherfucker lying in a slag pile at the bottom of a nearby turbine chamber had reached into her chest and grabbed it. She knelt at Grace’s side, her palm gently caressing the soft skin of the dead woman’s cheek, carefully wiping away the dirt and blood with each sweep of her thumb.

Her vision mercifully tunneled, and Dani could focus only on that precious face, ignoring the gaping wound in Grace’s abdomen. A wound made by the Rev-9, and made mortal by more gentle hands. Her focus shifted to the hand now cupping Grace’s cheek. Blood dried between her fingers, and along the lines of her cuticles. Not her own blood. A gift from Grace. Freely given. Dani shivered as she remembered how hard she’d had to push to get the razor-sharp metal shard through Grace’s subcutaneous mesh. The soft moans of pain from her lips, Dani whimpering in grief and sympathy.

_ I’m sorry!  _

_ I’m not. _

Her mission was to save Dani for the sake of the future. That was the official line. Dani had seen the truth in the cockpit of the cargo jet, however. As Grace had gazed up at her with those astonishing blue-green eyes, wide with awe and wet with unshed tears, Dani realized that Grace loved her. Of course Grace loved her future self, the great leader and savior. But no, this remarkable, determined, fierce, shy, and beautiful woman loved  _ her _ . Right now, in this time. Dani had leaned forward and kissed her. Grace had pulled back, blinking with bewilderment, before letting out a disbelieving huff and leaning in to return the kiss. She had pressed their foreheads together and smiled so wide, it was like the sun had risen. 

That was the moment Dani had truly resolved to live, to destroy that which was trying to destroy her, and live to be a protector and savior. How else could she ever be worthy of that love? 

Love and sacrifice.

Suddenly Dani realized Sarah was shaking her shoulders, yelling something at her. She took a shuddering breath and looked at the older woman. A rare light of compassion was in Sarah’s eyes. 

“You’re in shock, but we have to move. The cops will be here soon. In a few minutes. You have to get up, Dani.” 

Dani nodded slowly, knowing that she was right. She had to go. Getting locked up for decades would do nothing to help Grace.

She froze at her own thoughts. Help Grace? She looked back down at her beloved protector. Beautiful eyes closed forever.  _ She’s alive. Somewhere out there, she lives.  _ Dani bent over and pressed a soft kiss to Grace’s forehead, feeling that the skin was already cooling with death. She used her knife to cut a small lock of her flaxen hair, and placed it in her pocket as she stood, wrapped in a scrap of bloody cloth. Hope and determination were already flowing into her, nudging into her heart alongside the wrenching grief and regret that dwelled there.  _ Ah, love. This time I will protect you to the end. This time you won’t be sent back to die. I won’t allow it.  _

“I won’t allow it to happen again, Sarah. This time, she lives.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been awhile since I've done any fanfic, and I plan to make this a pretty long one. I'm not the most familiar with the broader Terminator universe, but I'm mostly here for the lesbians. XD 
> 
> My tumblr is draegaa.tumblr.com, btw.


	2. Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dani prepares for war, and has to make a choice.

Now that she knew the truth, now that she had felt Grace’s blood sticking to her skin, Dani hated her future self. How could she have ever chosen to send Grace back here? To die on the cold concrete floor of a power plant? _Did I know? Did this play out the same in that timeline? How many times has she died for me?_

_This is what you sent me here for._

_Never!_

_We both knew I wouldn’t be coming back._

_Fuck!_

_Everybody dies if you don’t make it!_

Was that all it was in the end? Arithmetic? How could she weigh the millions of lives she supposedly saves against the life of one woman, no matter how dear to her? If that choice was laid in front of her, no other options, how could she live either way? Maybe she didn’t. Maybe her future self was a shattered wreck, forced to the one choice that ended in unspeakable heartbreak no matter what.

_I will not let that happen again. Sarah prevented an entire apocalypse because of what she knew. I can save them all. And Grace. She is so brave, she will never choose not to go back to protect me. She must never have to face that choice, or even know it ever existed._

They had checked in on Grace as soon as they both were patched up enough to not frighten bystanders. Dani needed that reassurance, the knowledge that Grace was there, healthy and happy. She wouldn’t stay that way, but Dani would make sure she at least survived the dangers of Judgement Day.

Sarah had told her she needed to be ready. She would be. She would learn everything she needed. How to handle guns and grenades, her own feet and fists, to drive, to fly if she needed. But also battle tactics, and how to use the expertise and strengths of those she led. Not just in battle, but for survival: scavenging, growing food, sewing, and caring for the sick or injured. If she was going to keep people alive, all this and more would be needed. 

She would become all Grace had believed she would be.

* * *

Her and Sarah set up shop at Carl’s cabin. Sarah was worried about going back to an old hideout at first, but with the Rev-9 destroyed, Carl dead, and Alicia and Mateo gone, there was nothing to lead any law enforcement to the place. There was food and weapons stockpiled there, and a bunker to hide in, so Sarah finally relented. Dani never told her the real reason she wanted to stay here, but she suspected Sarah knew. This cabin was only a couple hours from where Grace and her family lived in San Antonio. 

The next couple of months became a blur as days sped past, the world barreling heedlessly towards destruction. Somewhere in America, foolish people were creating the doom of humanity. There was no way to stop the birth of Legion, they just didn’t have enough information. 

Focusing on what they could achieve, her and Sarah had made a schedule of training and study, alternating weapons, hand to hand combat, strength and endurance training, survival training, and at Dani’s insistence, tactics and leadership study. She used a fake ID Sarah had picked up from one of her mysterious contacts to get a library card, and checked out every book on these subjects she could find. She wouldn’t rely on only some mysterious power to inspire and bring people together, she would give them all the best chance of survival she could.

Dani had found a diamond shaped locket in a dresser drawer in the main bedroom. Inside, there were pictures of Carl and Mateo. Alicia must have accidentally left this behind when they fled. Dani pulled the two photos out, gently setting them back in the same drawer, and coiled the lock of Grace’s hair into the locket, snapping it shut. She wore it constantly.

After a particularly tough day of physical training (Sarah had her running miles and miles through the woods before the real exercise even began), Dani had gone to the back patio and sat down to read one of her books. She realized she was sitting where Grace had sat when they were planning how to handle the Rev-9.

_I am not staking her out like some goat!_

_I want to fight!_

Though Dani knew that fighting had been necessary, and the terminator would never have stopped hunting her, she couldn’t help the thought that Grace would still be here if Dani hadn’t insisted on fighting. The plan had failed when the EMPs did, and now Dani knew that Grace had seen her own death in those bullet-riddled energy grenades. She had given no indication of hesitation, however. Her plan had never really included her own survival. Dani was all that mattered.

_My loyal guardian. I miss you so much. I wonder what you would say about our preparations. I could use your help now._

With that thought, Dani curled in on herself, pressing her locket to her lips as her body was wracked with tears. Her breath came in ragged gasps, barely filling her lungs between each wailing sob. She was crying not just for Grace, but for Diego, her brother so full of dreams and love for the world, and her sweet, stubborn father. They had been her world for years, then in less than an hour, that whole world was gone.

_Take me home!_

_We’re not doing that. Your father is dead._

Dani hadn’t wanted to believe her, but had instantly known she was telling the truth. When Grace told her not to go to the police, Dani had believed her then, too. She had done things she could never have imagined to protect this half wild stranger, who wielded her own body like a deadly weapon, until that weapon had failed, collapsing in the middle of the chemist’s shop. Dani had aimed a gun at innocent people. Stolen drugs in broad daylight. Even as she was being appalled at her own actions, she was struggling to pull Grace’s limp body to safety, wherever that was.

Along with Sarah, the grouchy abuela, Grace had quickly become her new world. There at every moment. Protecting her with her body, helping her without hesitation, with care and gentleness in her hands. All that awesome power coiled in her tall, muscular form, and the worst injury Dani had sustained before that final, protracted fight was some bad bruising as Grace had shoved her away from the diving drone. It was no wonder Dani had fallen in love with her. 

And now that world was shattered, too. But Dani had dedicated herself to her goal of making sure at least one other person she loved survived this nightmare. Her chest was sore from sobbing, and the rest of her body ached from the training. She was becoming stronger. She’d never be a match for Grace’s power even without augments, simply because of her smaller frame. But she could run farther than ever, shoot with frightening accuracy, move with stealth, and drive nearly as skillfully as Grace had that first day. She knew Sarah was impressed with her, and hoped Grace would have been proud, too. 

That thought nearly set her crying again, but she took a deep, slow breath, and kept herself together. _That’s a skill I need to perfect. There will be no time to fall apart after Judgement Day._

Opening her book, she began reading about hydroponics and cultivating plants indoors.

* * *

When Judgement Day finally comes, it happens just as Grace had described. The cabin was strangely quiet when Dani and Sarah returned from a supply run at a Wal-Mart far across town. No fans were running, no lights were on, the refrigerator was silent. The grid must have gone down as they were driving back. Sarah lunged for her chip bag, ripping her cell phone out. She silently showed Dani the screen: “Mobile Network Not Available.”

Dani felt an icy sensation crawling up her spine. “Dios mío, ya es hora.”

Sarah was already moving, grabbing their emergency bags, prepared for this moment for months. “Let’s go find her.” 

Dani could have kissed the older woman. She had never liked Grace, but they had a grudging mutual respect by the end, and Sarah adored Dani. She knew Sarah would help, but Dani hadn’t expected her immediate focus to be on saving Grace. A flood of affection for the woman filled Dani, and she threw her arms around her neck and kissed her cheek. “Gracias, Abuela.”

Sarah grumbled and let Dani hug her tightly for a few more seconds, before shrugging her off, “Yeah yeah, you heard what your robo-girlfriend said: you’re the new leader of the human resistance. And since I know you’re not going to do any leading until you know Grace is safe, we may as well get started.”

Dani could always tell when Sarah was talking about the Grace who had died, because she never said her name. But the young girl they had seen, that could be a Grace to the older woman. She would be human still in Sarah’s eyes. Not something half an enemy, to be watched with suspicion at all times. Dani hoped Sarah would come to feel protective of this Grace. It would be comforting to think the old warrior would act as a guardian in case something went terribly wrong and Dani died.

“Vamonos.” She let Sarah drive, since they both knew the various routes through the back roads to the San Antonio suburb, and Dani was too keyed up, and would probably be reckless in her haste to get to Grace.

They drove out of the gravel drive and onto the hard road, keeping watch for other people fleeing. Dani thought it was probably too early for that, though. Everyone was probably still thinking this was some mistake. Some minor problem with the cell towers, and the power plant. A coincidence. Dani suddenly felt like she should be going around, rounding people up to guide them. Tell them to get ready for the storm. However she knew that no one would be ready to hear it. Not yet. And nothing was going to keep her from reaching Grace.

“Oh, shit!” Sarah slammed on the brakes as a large passenger jet roared through the tree tops and exploded in a massive fireball about 100 yards ahead of them. The blackened fuselage gouged a long crater in the earth, churning up asphalt as debris and liquid fire were flung into the woods on the opposite side of the road. Dani stared in horror, two thoughts entering her mind in quick succession. _Oh God, all those people! How long will it take to reach Grace now?_

She tried and failed to feel guilty for that last thought.

Sarah was already reversing away from the wreckage, trying to get a safe distance from any possible secondary explosions. “We’ll have to find another way around, but we’ll get to her, Dani.”

Dani nodded wordlessly, heart climbing into her throat. How much time would they lose? She had to believe they would find Grace, or she might go mad. She reached up to grasp the locket. To ground herself with the last piece of her Grace she had. It helped. A little.

They backtracked to another county road, driving in tense silence, keeping eyes on the sky and the ground. The last hour of the journey passed maddeningly slowly, Dani calculating how much time they had lost. Almost 2 full hours. 

As they drove onto Grace’s street, the only light was from the headlights, and a flickery red glow reflecting off the clouds, indicating fires nearby. Dani gasped at the sight of almost no cars in the driveways. Sarah pulled into the empty driveway of Grace’s home. The windows were black, no sign of a flashlight or a candle within. Fragile hope quickly fading, Dani jumped out of the car, shouting: “Grace! Grace! Is anyone here?” 

No response. Dani tried the front door knob. Locked. She picked up a rock from the front flower bed and shattered the decorative glass on the front door, and reached inside to open it. The air was humid and silent inside, she walked down a short hallway, and into the open floor of the kitchen and family room. Her flashlight illuminated open cabinets, packaged food gone. Other signs of swift packing lay around the house, drawers left open, clothing strewn around carelessly.

She had been too late. Grace was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So most of this will be from Dani's perspective, but will occasionally shift to Grace or even Sarah. 
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos so far! <3 It makes me feel pretty good about this story.


	3. Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dani makes a promise.

Gone out into a world about to shatter into chaos. How would Dani find her now? How could she live knowing Grace suffered the ravages after Judgement Day alone? Would she even survive this time? The timeline was different, even if just a little. No rules said that she wouldn’t be killed along with her father, or vaporized in the nuclear blasts.

Her breaths became shallow and her heart began to race, as she dipped into a panic attack. She braced herself, bending over, hands on her knees, trying to gulp air past the ten-ton weight on her chest.  _ No, no, no! _

“Snap out of it, Dani!” Sarah had followed her into the house after checking the yard, and now grabbed her shoulder in a pincer-like grasp, fingers digging into the sinews and sending a shock of pain lancing up her collar bone. Leave it to Sarah to find a way to get her back on track. Her breathing evened out, and she stood up straighter, rubbing her shoulder and avoiding the older woman’s gaze.

“We were too late, Sarah.”

“She’s still alive, she’s out there somewhere. Probably not far. We just need to find her now. Don’t fall apart. Grace needs you, the whole world does. This is what she died for. Do you want that to mean nothing?”

It was cruel, and very, very effective. Dani squared her shoulders and a sort of stillness washed over her, leaving her able to really think for the first time since seeing that jet fall out of the sky. Grace was in danger now. Dani still owed her everything. She owed her that great commander that Grace had known. The one who inspired hope and saved the world _. _ Sarah said Grace would be close by, and they would look for her, but they couldn’t stay near this city. They had to leave, and hope that Grace got out before the bombs fell. If there was no resistance, Grace’s hope of survival would vanish with humanity.

She couldn’t scramble around looking for a Grace that may not even be alive by tomorrow (Dani’s hands shook at the thought),  _ and  _ lead humanity to a future of resistance instead of self-destruction.  _ This is the choice. So soon. _

_ For you, Grace. I will find you if I can, but I will lead the people for you, no matter what. Humanity will survive this, I promise, love. _

* * *

They worked their way out of town on surface streets, knowing the highways would be hopelessly clogged with frightened people fleeing the darkened, silent city. The wreckage of another jet was visibly burning to the south, alongside Interstate 35. They took a sweeping pattern along the route, keeping watch for any sign of Grace. They were working their way back generally towards the cabin, along what they calculated was the most likely route for Grace’s family to be taking, just in case, if her parents had been smart enough to avoid the highways. Truthfully, however, Dani had no idea where Grace might be. She could only pray to a god she was no longer sure of:  _ let her live, please just let her live. _

They spent the night parked under an overpass, directly between San Antonio and Laredo. No sign of Grace, and Dani’s faint hope was fading fast. She slept fitfully, dreams haunted by images of Grace: collapsing on the floor of a pharmacy, lying in the dirt at the US-Mexico border, mortally wounded on a concrete floor, begging Dani to take her life. She’d had these nightmares before, but this first night of the apocalypse, a new set of images had invaded her dreams. Young Grace burning in the hellfires of a nuclear blast, or moaning as she bled out next to her father on the street, or curled up and still, cheekbones terrifyingly sharp and arms wasted from starvation.

Dani woke with a high moan of horror, blinking still-tired eyes and feeling heavy tears on her lashes. She looked at Sarah, who was staring out the window, toward the brightening sky in the east, immune to the sounds of Dani’s nightmares. Other cars had parked under the overpass, but fear kept the occupants inside, hiding from an unknown future. Fear and suspicion would be the new normal, people killing each other for the next bite of food, or water, or safe hiding spot. 

The sky was getting slowly brighter, revealing some of the faces in the other cars. Parents, children, siblings, friends, lovers. Some sleeping, faces tense. The ones who were awake wore expressions of bewilderment, adrift in a suddenly confusing world. Dani wanted to go to them, feeling suddenly protective of these complete strangers. They were all about to be refugees from a world at war. A few of them had left their cars, milling around without talking to each other.

A sudden bright flash lit the northeast horizon, back in the direction of San Antonio. Dani flung the door open and ran towards the other cars, heart plummeting into her stomach.

“Don’t look at the blast! It will blind you! Close your eyes!”

To Dani’s astonishment, most of them listened to her, covering their heads and turning away. They were far enough from the city for her to not fear the fall out or shockwave, but the flash could be truly dangerous. All that reading was already coming in handy. The bright flash was already fading, but there would be other bombs.

“Don’t look in that direction, they could drop more bombs.”

A young woman stepped towards her, eyes glassy and stretched wide with panic, holding the hand of a small child, who looked on with confusion and worry. Her voice had a slight shrill edge to it, “who? What’s happening? What was that light?” 

Dani took a deep breath, looking around at the people standing under the overpass, all of them suddenly focused on her. More folks were getting out of the cars and vans, one man in a large pickup truck was wearing a pistol at his belt (Sarah had taught her to look for those details.) That protective feeling had returned, and the words came quickly, smoothly. Like a comforting mother, a reassuring leader.

“Don’t worry about who just yet, but that was a nuclear blast. San Antonio has been bombed. More may come, but we should be safe enough this far from the city.”

Most had gasped at her saying the city had been bombed, several burst into horrified sobbing, a few just looked pale with shock. She herself had a deep twisting feeling of helplessness and terror. The only hope for Grace was if she had gotten away from the city, Dani had done nothing to help her. Her hand came up to grip the locket tightly, knuckles turning white.  _ I can do this, keep it together. Grace needs a place to come when we find her. The resistance must start here. _ Dani had failed to find Grace, but she could never give up on her.

The man with the pistol stepped forward. He was a black man with a compact build, wearing a cowboy hat and boots, and a belt buckle etched with a star and a sinsonte (Dani did not know what the bird was called in English.)  _ Texas _ . 

“Well ma’am, you seem like you know what you’re talking about, do you know what we should do?” He had a quiet voice, and he sounded shaken but not panicked. 

Sarah had gotten out of the car to stand at her left shoulder, and Dani glanced at her for help, but she just gave her a look as if to say “this is your show, kid.” Dani sighed.  _ Ay sí, gracias, abuela. _

“Right now, we need to make sure we stick together, and get a relatively safe place to spend the next few weeks, along with supplies. I have these things prepared, and anyone who wishes may come with us.” She stood up straighter, looking around and making quick eye contact with anyone she could. 

“Wait, how do we know we can trust you?” The speaker was a tall white guy with a red beard and long hair bound up in a knot on his head. He sounded panicky, and angry. “Who are you to tell us what to do? We should just go to the police or the military, let the government take care of this!” 

“The assholes in the military and government caused this!” Sarah snarled. Dani raised a hand to silence her, and took another step towards the gathered crowd. 

“If you go to the authorities, you will most likely be dead soon. Those who bombed the city and destroyed the power and cell grid will be targeting all government facilities, or already have them captured or destroyed. If you come with me, I will try to explain everything I know, but we need to get moving quickly.” No one moved.

“Okay, how about this, Sarah and I are leaving in 5 minutes to go to a place with supplies, weapons, a bunker, and a power generator. Anyone that wishes to come with us must be ready by then. Extra cargo space will be very useful, so if there’s anything you wish to leave behind, do it now.” With that, she turned around and walked back to their car, heart pounding, and hands buzzing with adrenaline. All that terrible fighting when the Rev-9 was still chasing her, and speaking to a crowd made her nervous. Some great commander.

In the end, less than half the people chose to follow her. The black man (named Noah) was the first to tell her he was coming with them, and offered to give a ride to any who needed it. The young mother and her child came as well, smiling shakily at her and surprising Dani by giving her a quick hug. 

Their group was now 5 more vehicles and 15 more people, including a 16 year old boy who screamed at his parents that they couldn’t just go back home, and jumped into the back of Dani and Sarah’s car. The father had shouted at the kid, and tried to open the car door to drag him back out, but Sarah placed herself between him and the car, calmly pointing her shotgun at him, face impassive.

The man had hurled vile curses at Sarah, who laughed and spit at his feet. “The kid is smarter than you, so he’s coming with us. If you don’t want a chest full of buckshot, you’ll back up a little.” He stomped back to his van, dragging his crying wife by the wrist, his grip bruisingly tight. The woman cried out, “Michael, maybe we should go with them! They seem like they have a plan.”

“Syd, I’m not going anywhere with some illegal and that old woman. Alex can go if he wants to be a stubborn idiot, but we’re going back home.”

Dani pulled her pistol from its holster, and fired a bullet into the front tire of the van, making everyone jump, and the man squeak shrilly. “Let her go, gringo. You don’t need to be dragging her around like that. She wants to come with us.”

“Fuck you, bitch! She’s my wife! You’ve already stolen my kid.”

“They’re not your toys, pendejo. Let her go, and let me talk to her now.” The man’s lip curled into a snarl, and he shoved the woman at Dani. She stumbled and Dani jumped forward and caught her arm gently, speaking softly “Hey you’re okay. Sorry about the tire.” The woman looked up at Dani, and stood up a little straighter. 

“I want to come with you, I want to stay with my son.”

“Of course, chica. You are welcome to join us. You may even ride with us.”

“My name is Sydney.”

“Dani.”

The woman nodded silently, and glanced back at her husband, who was dragging the spare tire from the back of the van, face twisted with anger. She let out a ragged sigh, and walked to their car. Sarah clapped her on the back and opened the back door for her. 

“Sarah, could you please get their bags from the van?” The man’s head jerked up at that, and he glared as Sarah rummaged around in the back of the van, but did nothing, wary of the weapon in her right hand. She came back with two duffel bags, and a small case of bottled water. 

“We don’t have the room for these in our car, Dani.”

Noah stepped up, hands out. “Give them to me, we can toss them in my truck.” Sarah nodded and handed the bags over, tossing the water into the truck bag. “Good. A truck will be helpful.”

“Alright folks, we’re leaving.” Dani reached into the console and pulled out a pair of walkie-talkies, giving one to Sarah, and tossing the other to Noah. She had to start trusting people, and the man seemed level-headed and capable.

“Noah, would you please bring up the rear? If anyone has a problem or car trouble, just give us a call on that, it’s set to the right channel” The man nodded, clipping the device on his belt.

Dani got behind the wheel, Sarah sat in the other seat, the barrel of her shotgun sticking out of the open window. She was keeping an eye on the angry husband, and the man who had wanted to go find some authorities. That one was looking desperately at his phone, as though expecting the signal to come back any second.  _ Poor fool. _

They got on the road, Dani driving slow enough to ensure they would be able to see and stop in case of obstacles in the road. The caravan of vehicles picked up one more family and van along the way. They had been stranded and out of gas on the shoulder of the road, and Sarah helped siphon gas from one of the other vehicles to get them moving. 

Returning to the cabin without Grace felt wrong to Dani, like giving up, like betrayal. She knew that her Grace would have wanted this. Dani taking up that mantle, helping these people. She just had to keep repeating it to herself:  _ this is what Grace died for, this was what her sacrifice was for. _ It helped. A little bit. 

They finally made it back to the cabin, and Sarah took a few folks to the weapon shed to arm them, and start training them to use those weapons. Dani took the more shaken members of the group into the house to sit down and have a snack. She sent Noah to find and turn on the generator and connect the most important appliances to it. Around noon, she sent Sydney to round everyone up.

Dani stood on the back step of the house, everyone else sitting or standing on and around the patio, gazing at her, waiting. Trusting. Expectant.  _ What do they see in me? Why did they come here? _ No matter, she knew what she needed to say, what they needed to hear. She reached up to hold the locket.  _ Lend me strength. _

“I’m about to tell you things you may not believe. You may think I’m crazy, and some of you may want to leave once I’m done, but I beg you to hear me out. Let me finish before you make your decisions. 

“About eight months ago, I was a factory worker in Mexico City. Happy enough, living with my father and brother. One day at my work, a machine that looked like my father tried to kill me. The only reason I survived was because a woman I had never met protected me. Saved me. Grace. Her name was Grace. My brother and father were murdered by this machine. Both the machine and the woman were sent from the future. The year 2042. The next week was hell. I only survived because Sarah and Grace protected me. 

“Grace told us about what happened yesterday and this morning: the grid going down, cities being bombed. She told us why it had happened. The military has developed a computer intelligence, a cyber warfare AI. Legion. That is the enemy. Legion took down the grid, bombed our cities, and will continue working to destroy us. If Legion has its way, humanity will be extinguished. I don’t plan to let that happen.

“This is only going to get worse from here, and the most important thing we can do is make sure we always take care of each other, and help anyone we can. That is the  _ only _ way we will survive this.”

Dani looked out at the people listening. Some had shades of disbelief written on their faces. Most had fear, some anger, some had determination. All gazed at her with trust. Their faith rested on her, now. 

She could not let them down.

_ For Grace. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! I'm LOVING writing this, and I hope y'all are liking it. :) Don't worry, you won't have to wait long for our favorite giantess. I'm already working on the next chapter.


	4. Humanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dani find that being a leader fits her, but nothing can fill the void in her heart.

She looked around the open floor of the Costco they had chosen to raid for supplies. The machines didn’t need the canned food and clothes and blankets, but they knew that the humans did. Any supply run was potentially deadly, but even the machines couldn’t be everywhere at once. 

The list she had was long: food, water, medicine from the pharmacy, boots and socks, clothes, blankets and sheets, and at least one sewing machine. They had gotten a generator from a Home Depot about a month ago, and their resident seamstress was looking forward to being able to patch up the group’s clothing without destroying her fingertips. 

In that same Home Depot raid, they had gotten some seeds, and planted them about a week ago, hoping that some would still germinate. Food was easier to find these days, since most people had already died of starvation, but growing food would be a phenomenal victory against the machines, so they persisted in trying to draw life from the poisoned earth. So far, mint, tomatoes, and a few zucchini plants had been the only successes, but it was far better than nothing. 

They’d found a decent safe house this time, in a city that had been hit, same as San Antonio, but was smaller and didn’t have as many major military targets, so the machines weren’t as numerous here. It had more of what passed for safety in these days than the bigger cities. Though it was concerning that their group hadn’t seen a trace of other humans since coming here.

Their last safehouse in Lubbock had been compromised after about 5 months, and they had lost two of their people to the machines while running. She still had nightmares about that day: murderous metal skeletons shooting at them, tearing her friends apart with their hands. But they had dwindled lately. The group had almost gotten complacent after nearly an entire year without even seeing a machine, but after 7 years of hell since fleeing their various homes on Judgement Day, none of them would ever believe that the nightmare was over. Fear and caution ruled all. 

They had all seen the brutality of the machines, gunning people down with no mercy, tearing their bodies to shreds, crushing bones under their tank treads. But she had seen a more desperate brutality in the surviving humans, too. Everyone had a story of witnessed cruelty in the name of survival: smothering a crying child because the noise attracted machines, shooting a person for a case of bottled water, abandoning a wounded friend to die.

Stabbing a father of two for a can of peaches.

Sometimes Grace wasn’t certain if humanity was even worth saving.

* * *

After 7 long years, Dani’s heart had split into two separate halves: one becoming more tender and hopeful as the resistance grew and gained ever more victories, one slowly withering into a husk of pain and regret. She had turned 28 a month ago, but some days she felt about a thousand years old. They had never found Grace. Dani often thought she must be dead. Otherwise how would the resistance have missed her? They were spread in a loose network over most of south Texas, northern Mexico, and a bit of Louisiana. New survivors were brought in everyday, even within the span of that net, but Dani still thought that surely they should have found Grace by now.

When the timeline shifted slightly, had that changed it enough that they had missed each other by a few minutes, a few hundred yards? The thought was maddening, though she never let anyone else see. Except Sarah. Sarah could read her mind, it seemed. After every victory or loss, each mission or supply run without finding Grace, the older woman always looked at Dani like she expected her mask of leadership to slip, revealing the despair beneath. 

But the truth is, it wasn’t a mask. Though Dani had not known how she could be a great leader of people, it came very naturally to her. She inspired hope and love, turning fearful enemies into comrades and friends who would willingly die for the cause of humanity. She cared deeply for these people. She had seen the depths to which people could sink in fear and pain and deprivation, but the heights they could reach with guidance and care could be breathtaking. 

Just last month, a soldier had saved a large group of starving survivors by drawing off the machines besieging them. He had been cut down by the plasma turrets on the tank before reinforcements had arrived, but he had bought enough time for the survivors to escape. Even now, they were being fed and allowed showers and new clothes. 

Each week, more people volunteered for the augment program, which had been having greater success. The survival rate had increased to almost 65 percent. Dani insisted on meeting every successful augment, to thank them for their dedication to protecting humanity and ending the threat of Legion. Her heart always ached at seeing their scars, and their unnatural prowess in combat. Grace lived in each of them, though they didn’t know it. 

Sarah had been invaluable to the resistance, training recruits in guerilla tactics and rapid kill techniques. She knew how to fight terminators, that was certain. Noah had become Dani’s right hand, his calm competence perfectly suited to ensuring her orders were always carried out quickly and efficiently. 

The resistance had developed strategies to fight the machines, and evade their sensors, but Legion was always learning. And adapting. The augment program had given them a huge leg up. An Augment could defeat a Rev-7 almost every time, and a Rev-8 could be slowed down until a kill squad could come to finish it off.

Dani was waiting. She knew that it was only a matter of time until the first Rev-9 came off Legion’s vile assembly line. What would happen then? 

What would happen when Legion finally developed the ability to time travel?  _ Who will I send back to die for me? _ , she thought bitterly.

This line of thinking was getting her nowhere, though, so she turned back to the stack of reports on her desk. This base was in the northwest of Texas, away from the bigger cities, near the border of the region controlled primarily by the resistance. They had been working on a plan to push the border west. Scouts reported that machine activity in the northern mountains of New Mexico had slowly decreased over the past year. Some of her analysts believed it was due to the fact that all the humans in the region had fled or been exterminated. And the fact that Legion was using its resources to prevent the humans from pushing further into the Gulf Coast states. 

Dani never assumed Legion would give up any land without a fight, though. She would lead this push herself. If they could create a reasonably clear route through to California, and reconnect with the resistance cell out there, it would be an incredible victory. They had lost contact when a resistance base near Flagstaff was destroyed. Losing access to some of the tech out in California had been a blow to the resistance.

So Dani would be there. To pay Legion back, and gain ever more ground for humanity.

* * *

They landed just outside Santa Fe. The Dragonfly was a marvel of engineering: maneuverable, efficient, and most importantly, analog. It had gotten them into the mountains, and safely past a few small Legion outposts, destroying one with cannon fire. Dani hoped it would get them back out, too. 

Santa Fe’s importance lay not in military might or materials, but in location. Having access to the mountains up into Colorado and west across the Basin and Range would give them a route to California that the machines would not expect. The city had been bombed with conventional firebombs, not nuclear. Dani supposed Legion wanted to save it’s bigger bombs for more important targets.

They established a perimeter within the first week, and the reports appeared to be accurate: no machines, no humans. Dani sent a few teams out for supplies. She especially wanted books and computers they could salvage. She had recently had one of the tech experts start a program teaching interested recruits how to code. 

Fighting an enemy created entirely of code with conventional warfare was a losing battle. Eventually Legion would adapt in a way they couldn’t counter quickly enough, and her people would die. Dani wouldn’t let that happen. So she would hit that bastard AI where it hurt.

“Commander!” A young soldier stood in the doorway, back straight, arm up in a salute. 

“At ease, soldier. Report.”

“One of the supply groups has returned. They found a few survivors, holed up pretty tight in the basement of one of the museums. One of them is badly sick. Looks like an appendix thing.”

“Thank you, soldier. I’ll come see them. Lead the way.” 

They made their way outside to a shaded porch, where the sick survivor had been laid on a thin mattress. He was moaning quietly, holding his abdomen.

“Get him into a Hummingbird and fly him to the hospital in Lubbock. He may make it yet.” 

She looked around, trying to find where the other survivors had gone. One of the medics noticed, saying, “the others are in the mess, Commander.”

“Thanks a lot. Now make sure you get him out of here quickly, he’s in a lot of pain.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the medic acknowledged with a salute. 

Dani made her way to the mess to greet the rest of the group they’d found. The familiar chatter in the hall, and the smell of hot food made Dani smile.  _ My people _ , she thought with warmth, scanning the hall for the new folks. 

She froze, a hot and cold sensation flashing up her spine. At one of the tables, facing away from her, sat a figure she’d know anywhere: long limbs bent to fit the small space, body hunched over to eat enthusiastically, shaggy golden hair looking like it had been cut in a hurry. She felt like she couldn’t breathe, eyes stretched wide.

“Commander, are you alright?” Someone asked.

The golden haired figure turned to look at her, and their eyes met. 

Blue. Blue and beautiful. As bright as the sky on a cloudless day. Dani swallowed and took a shaky breath.

_ Oh thank God _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh. I hope y'all liked it. This fic has become my baby. And now we can get to the really good stuff. ;D


	5. Salvation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dani finds almost exactly what she's been looking for.

_Grace, ah Dios, está a salvo._

Dani’s knees almost gave way, but she locked them, unable to take her eyes off of Grace's face. The other woman looked away, breaking eye contact with an expression of confusion. Dani realized she was gripping the locket so tightly her knuckles ached. 

"Commander? Do you need a medic? You look really pale." A light hand rested on her shoulder, and she dragged her eyes away from Grace to look at the speaker, releasing the locket. 

One of her pilots, Elena, stood by her, a look of concern for the Commander on her face. Dani drew a deep breath. _Oh god you're fucking this up. Keep it together. She can't find out, not yet. And not like this._

She steadied herself by clapping her own hand to the pilot’s shoulder, shaking her head and huffing out what she hoped passed for a laugh. “I guess I should have had a snack earlier, huh? Just a blood sugar drop. No worries, I just need to grab some food.” 

The pilot nodded, looking worried. Dani patted her hand, thanking her. “Really I’ll be fine, Elena. Could you have someone bring me some of what the new kids are eating? I’m gonna talk to them for a bit.”

“Of course, Commander.”

Dani’s heart was pounding as she rounded the row of tables and sat on the opposite end and side from Grace, schooling her features into a blandly cheerful mask. She wasn’t certain she could keep herself together if she was too close to her, but she still wanted to be able to see her. See who she had become. The taller woman had bent back over her tray, avoiding Dani’s eyes, uncertainty on her face. She was eating with just a slight edge of desperation, as though she feared the food would be snatched from her at any second. The sight made Dani’s stomach twist. What had she been through in the past seven years? _What we all have been through, but how much did she have to face alone?_

Grace looked thin, but not terribly malnourished, and she had grown very tall, so Dani thought she must have had at least enough to eat when she was growing. One day, maybe she would tell Dani her story. 

With that thought of “one day”, suddenly nothing couldn’t stop the rising tide of joy and love and relief in Dani’s heart. Behind every thought, a mantra rang: _está viva, está a salvo, está aquí._ This time, her laugh was genuine, her heart lighter than it had been since before the Rev-9 had attacked so many years ago. “I’m glad you are all here, your sick friend is on the way to a medical facility, so he’ll probably survive. My name is Dani. Welcome to the resistance.”

Dani smiled around at all of them warmly, trying not to focus too much on Grace. She knew she had probably freaked her out a little already. One day, they would probably laugh about this moment.

A newer recruit set a tray of food in front of Dani, snapping a salute. “Commander.”

She turned slightly to look at him. “Thank you… what is your name, soldier?” 

“It’s Kris, Ma’am.”

“Thank you, Kris.”

Turning back to the group, Dani began telling them about why the resistance was here in Santa Fe. Her heart raced like it always did when talking about the resistance, and all of the work so many good people did, uplifting and aiding each other. 

“You are all welcome to stay among us. If you wish, you may join the fighting forces, but it’s not a requirement. There are many ways to resist the machines, to defeat Legion.”

“You fight the machines? And win?” One of the group, a young man with short brown hair, seemed astonished. 

“Yes! We fight Legion whenever we can. There is no other way to take our world back. And yes, we win. Not every time, but we have had many victories. And we’ve developed new technology to fight back.”

Several of them were staring at her with amazement, and a little awe. Not Grace, though. She seemed focused on her food, her face set with . . . frustration? _Strange._

“For now, you can simply rest and regain your strength, until you decide if you wish to stay here in Santa Fe to help our teams scout and secure a permanent outpost, or travel back to one of the other bases in our territory.” Dani grinned. “It’s good that we came here, eh? We hadn’t been expecting to see any humans here, so I’m very happy we found you.”

* * *

Grace was . . . _very_ fucking confused. This extremely petite, very beautiful, unexpectedly _young_ woman was the Commander of the supposed human resistance? They had heard a rumor a couple years ago about such a movement, but Grace had dismissed it as the delusions of desperate people, or else something more sinister, leading humans into a trap.

She was also confused because for about fifteen seconds, the woman (Dani?) was staring at her like she’d seen a ghost. Locking eyes with her and paling visibly. Grace suddenly wanted to avoid this woman’s gaze. Dani ( _I_ _’m not fucking calling her Commander_ ) shook herself out of it quickly, and laughed, coming to join their table. Grace didn’t miss the way she skirted around the other side of the table and sat about as far from her as she could, even though a seat was open right next to her. Grace didn’t miss much. That’s why she was still alive. Now what Grace didn’t miss was Dani taking quick, flickering glances at her as she waited on her food and made conversation. _Okay what the fuck?_

Dani was welcoming them to the resistance, like they had any choice. Like this was some club where they were going to braid each other’s hair and have snacks before defeating the machines that had hunted them for seven years. One of the soldiers who had found them (Grace had broken his hand before realizing the armed people weren’t going to kill them) had explained about the resistance, a slightly awed look in his eyes when he explained that they were lead by a great commander, who would help take humanity to victory and salvation. 

_She’s so tiny, though. And very strange._ Though Grace had to admit, the more she spoke about the resistance and the opportunities her group could find under its protection, the sweeter it sounded. She was sure it was all just a house of cards waiting to fly apart. She’d learned that everything that seemed good and safe was just concealing a greater danger. Although, they looked like they had come up with some interesting technology. Grace’s small group had barely scraped by most of the time, where were these people getting the time and resources to invent fucking flying machines?

It pissed her off. She'd spent two years nearly starving to death, and the last five scraping by, running for her life from machine and human alike. She finally found a small group of people she had barely trusted. They had hung on, losing people here and there, though they had had more luck in this place. They were out here fighting for their lives, and these people, this resistance, this _Commander_ , were spending their time making toys! 

Dani’s voice broke through her train of thought, “We hadn’t been expecting to see any humans here, so I’m very happy we found you.”

Grace finally looked up and met Dani’s eyes, resentment rising in her heart. “Yeah? Well maybe you should have found us sooner.”

* * *

“Well maybe you should have found us sooner.” Grace was glaring at her, expression stony. 

Dani felt the blood drain from her face, heart clenching. Hearing her darkest thoughts of blame and regret coming from the one she had failed to protect was like a fist to the gut. She could hardly form a coherent thought. 

“I-I . . . didn’t k-know.” 

Grace looked away quickly, as if surprised she had even spoken. “Whatever.” She swung her long leg over the bench and stood up, back stiff as she walked away. 

Dani excused herself and got up from the table, unable to even fake a smile as she nodded goodbye to the new folks before rushing out of the mess hall. She forced herself to walk calmly across the square to the building with her temporary quarters. 

She stepped inside and closed the door, leaning back against it, gulping air as her throat closed up. Sobs bubbled up from her chest as she sank down and hugged her knees tightly, head back as tears flowed down her cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah sorry about that. I figure a Grace that's been on her own (sort of) for so long would be much more angry and bitter than our movie Grace. And even movie Grace had a small mean streak. XD She just would never have turned it on Dani.
> 
> I do feel a little bad for being mean to Dani. She's a sweetheart, and she's having an . . . emotional day.
> 
> Also!! Thanks so much for all your kudos and comments! This is the most attention ANY story of mine has gotten. It really helps encourage me to write. I hope to have the next chapter up sometime over the next couple days. We'll see how much time I get over Thanksgiving break.
> 
> Oh!! And I made a short Dani/Grace playlist. XD https://draegaa.tumblr.com/post/189326951093/danigrace-playlist


	6. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Grace has a lot to consider.

Grace made her way into a nearby building and upstairs, reflexively darting her eyes to every corner and open doorway, looking for cameras or other hidden devices or threats. All she saw was a few cots with some soldiers napping, a room with a desk covered in papers, and a small lavatory. She was curious about that last one, wondering how they got it to work. Finally, she made it to the rooftop, hesitating at the doorway. 

She wanted to be alone, and away from the crowded, fearful feeling that had seeped into her heart. In her experience, humans couldn’t usually be trusted much more than machines, and now the safest haven she and her group had found was crawling with them. So she would brave the exposure of the rooftop. Stepping warily onto the gravel, Grace scanned the sky. All clear for now. And the roof was empty of people. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the low wall wrapping around the edge, swinging her legs over to sit. 

The view was perfect, south down into the open valley, hills and mountains blue in the distance. Grace could feel herself relaxing in increments. The air was crystal clear, and there were no signs of any activity in the sky. The flying machines of the resistance weren’t flying today. They seemed to only come and go at night.  _ At least they have that much sense. _ The cool dry breeze caressed her face, carrying the scent of pine and sage. A small spark of surprise flashed through her that she had even noticed that. It had been a very long time since she’d bothered to notice anything other than what she needed to survive. Since she’d  _ enjoyed _ anything.

_ I guess having so many other people keeping watch isn’t so bad. As long as they can leave me alone. _

She had spent so much time avoiding conflict with other people, in an effort to avoid possibly violent responses, that she had been surprised that she’d spoken to Dani like that. Or at all. The other woman looked like Grace had slapped her. She’d just been so angry. It wasn’t entirely fair. Word was that the resistance operated mostly south of where her group had been moving, but they should have done more. Flown wider patrols, looked for survivors outside their territory, anything. She could have had that safety, not starving, maybe even not having to watch her father bleed out on dirty linoleum tiles. It may not have been fair to blame the resistance and Dani for her suffering, but Grace didn’t care. She  _ hurt _ .

Grace sighed and looked down at her hands, turning them over and tracing her scars. A wide, rough one on the ball of one thumb, where a scrape had gotten badly infected when she was about seventeen. Fortunately she had found a pharmacy with medicine to help the infection before it killed her, but the skin in that area was still tight and painful some days. A short, raised scar on her other palm from the knife of a man who tried to rape her at knife point two years ago. She had bashed his skull in with a lump of concrete rubble, but not before he had jabbed her palm with his knife. Another scar, long and thin and faded, ran diagonally across the back of one hand. She ran her thumb along this one for a long time, remembering. 

She and her family had fled San Antonio a few hours after the grid went down, driving out of town on interstate 35. They had gotten stuck in traffic about twelve miles outside of the city, and continued fleeing on foot after seeing a passenger jet plummet out of the sky nearby. When the bomb hit, they were already almost twenty miles away. After that, they wandered the outskirts of San Antonio for weeks, finding food and shelter as they could. As food dwindled, her parents had eaten less and less, and given her and her brother more of their shares. 

Her mother hadn’t woken up one morning, cheeks sunken and hollow. Her brother developed pneumonia and died choking on fluid deep in his lungs. Finally, her father was trying to negotiate sharing the last of the food cans with a man at a convenience store. Grace remembered how the knife had slid out of her father’s neck, bright red blood pouring out like a fountain. She had screamed and lunged for the man, who slashed her across the back of the hand. Stunned from pain and shock, and weak with hunger, Grace had curled up against her father’s limp form, crying raggedly. She had discovered a case of canned soup in the storage room of the store later that night, concealed by a pile of broken boxes. And had lived.

These bitter memories would never leave her, and still occasionally renewed themselves in her dreams. She pressed her thumbnail brutally into her scar, leaving a crescent indent crossing the thin silver line. Grace tried to picture the faces of her family, but could never summon an image for long before the nightmare versions took over. Suddenly, she desperately wished she had a photograph of them. Her entire life before Judgement Day felt like a strange dream, memories viewed through smudged glass. 

The breeze had gotten cooler as the sun sank lower in the sky, making Grace shiver. She should probably head back down off the roof, but that would mean facing people. Talking to someone about where she could sleep. Unless she wished to run back to her old hideout, but that was awfully far to move in the night. Alone. 

Suddenly a strange fear washed over her: these people would leave her. She had snapped at their precious Commander, run away here to ignore them all. They would think she was useless, disrespectful, or too stubborn or broken to do anything for them. Grace was angry at the Commander, the resistance, and crowded by all these people, but she immediately knew she would die if they left her behind. After all the hell she’s been through, that would break her. She couldn’t let that happen.

A sound behind her made her jump, twisting off the roof wall and landing on the gravel of the rooftop in a crouch. It was Dani, stepping out of the stairwell door, carrying a blanket. Grace relaxed slightly, standing straighter and gazing warily at the smaller woman. She stopped when she noticed Grace crouched by the wall, her eyes sad. 

“It’s okay, chica, it’s just me. One of the watchmen said you had come up here a few hours ago. It’s getting chilly out.” She raised the hand holding the blanket in explanation. Grace relaxed a bit more, standing straight and wrapping her arms around her chest, and looking down as Dani approached. Now was the time to fix this, her only chance to stay with the resistance, doomed though it may be.

“I’m sorry about snapping at you like that.” Grace’s voice was low, but she made eye contact with Dani, trying to convince her she was sincere. 

“No, you don’t -- you don’t need to apologize to me. You’ve been through a lot, I’m sure.” Dani was looking at her, emotions Grace couldn’t name written on her face. How was this woman the leader of an army? She was too open. Too . . . vulnerable. 

“Let’s sit down,” Dani said, settling in against the inside of the roof wall, and patting the gravel next to her. Grace felt amazed that she had time to bother with her at all. “Don’t you have an army to run? How do you have time for me?” She sat down though. It was difficult to resist the blanket in the chill air, and some deep strand of her being wanted to hear what Dani had to say. Some tiny, hidden fragment of her soul that hadn’t forgotten how to hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one this time! More Dani and Grace next chapter. This one took a lot out of me. I just want to hug poor Grace forever after this. 
> 
> Hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely Thanksgiving!


	7. Harmony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dani tries to connect.

Dani eventually pulled herself together after crying her eyes out up against her door. Her heart was wrung out, thrumming with guilt and pain, but also joy and love. Maybe their meeting hadn’t gone any way Dani had hoped or expected, but Grace was here, and alive. Her life was ahead of her, and there was new hope for the future. Dani had kept her promise in the only way she could, and made sure Grace had a place to come home to, to be loved and protected.

She knew she shouldn’t go running straight after Grace, and wasn’t sure she could face her right then anyway. So Dani spent the rest of the afternoon being a good commander. A meeting with her communications team to arrange the encrypted relay stations between Santa Fe and the base near Lubbock. Briefing her deep wilderness team (the Mountain Lions) that would be penetrating the mountains to the north to find potential paths up into Colorado and on into Utah. Reading reports that had come in from Noah on the eastern Edge. 

Legion had an iron grip on the far Southeastern states, but the resistance had recently destroyed a major data center and communications array outside of New Orleans, and were planning a raid on a Rev-8 factory in Baton Rouge. The most encouraging report on her desk said that the aquaculture project in the cave systems of Grutas Nombre de Dios was up and running, predicted to be able to supply the entire region of northern Mexico with protein within the year.

They would win. Humanity was going to claw its way back from the brink by embracing their greatest traits: astonishing creativity, relentless persistence, and an unbreakable sense of community. Already, they had achieved more than she ever thought possible, and it made her proud. Of them and of herself. She had never known her own strength, but was glad for it now. 

It was time to call on that strength and go speak to Grace. She removed her locket and placed it in the top drawer of her desk. It felt . . . strange to wear it now. Wrong, somehow. If this Grace found what was inside it, it would upset and confuse her, and no force on Earth would drive Dani to hurt Grace more than she already was.

A soldier directed her to a nearby building (the makeshift barracks), saying the tall woman from the new group had been sitting up on the roof there for the past few hours. Dani felt the chill of the evening air, and grabbed a blanket from a storage locker before making her way up to the rooftop. 

Grace was still sitting on the wall surrounding the roof, but she must have heard the door open, and jumped down to face the sound, expression tense and alert. Dani’s mouth went dry seeing her lithe form twist and crouch like an animal at bay, fearful gaze locked on hers. _Chica hermosa_. For a split second Dani wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around Grace’s waist, press her head against her chest, and hear the other woman’s heartbeat. To pour her warmth into her, taking away her fear and pain.

But it wouldn’t be that easy. Dani knew that. Knew that Grace was skittish right now, and would need time. Years, maybe. She would likely never be exactly like the woman Dani had known and loved, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that she would have a chance to live and heal. Dani’s love for another Grace gave her no ownership over this Grace’s heart, but she would still do everything she could to protect this woman. She had made a promise.

When Grace had seen that it was Dani, she had relaxed slightly, but still looked terribly anxious. Dani said the first thing she thought of to calm her, showing her the blanket. “It’s okay, chica, it’s just me. One of the watchmen said you had come up here a few hours ago. It’s getting chilly out.”

Grace straightened up, but looked down at the roof, saying quietly, “I’m sorry about snapping at you like that.” She met Dani’s eyes, and Dani saw sincerity and worry there, and a thread of fear. She looked like she expected to be punished for speaking up, and Dani’s heart ached. This was all wrong. Dani wanted to reassure her, without smothering her. To comfort her without revealing too much. She wasn’t sure if she was up for that. But she would try. For Grace.

“No, you don’t -- you don’t need to apologize to me. You’ve been through a lot, I’m sure.” This felt like a weak platitude, so Dani tried another tactic. “Let’s sit down,” she said, doing so, and patting the roof next to her invitingly. Grace towered over her, one eyebrow raised slightly, and the corner of her mouth curled up incredulously.

“Don’t you have an army to run? How do you have time for me?” She sat down, though, taking the offered blanket and wrapping it around her shivering body. She looked at Dani now, her eyes curious and gentler than they’d been all day.

_I will always have time for you, my Grace._

Dani looked over at Grace, hunched under the blanket, and smiled at her brightly. "I'm on lighter duty than usual out here in Santa Fe. All done for the evening, if nothing comes up." 

Grace sighed and leaned her head back, looking up at the stars. They were bright and beautiful and blazed across the sky with no city lights to drown them out. The dust and soot from the bombardment on Judgement Day had cleared after a few years, leaving the sky crystal clear. 

Dani watched Grace out of the corner of her eye. This version of Grace didn’t own her height the way her Grace had, back slightly bent, shoulders forward. She seemed to be trying to be smaller than she was, less of a problem, out of the way. It made Dani a little sad, but it made sense.

“Were you all in Santa Fe long?”

Grace answered without looking at her. Maybe that was easier for her. “Almost a year now.” 

“You haven’t seen any machines here in all that time? That’s incredible.”

“Well you don’t have to trust my word, but we saw nothing.” Grace didn’t sound offended that Dani might not believe her, just as if she expected it. 

“Of course I trust you, chica. You were here for longer than we were, you know what’s going on.”

“Why? Why would you trust me? You don’t know me! I could be plotting to, to do something terrible!” Frustration again, poor girl. Dani turned slightly to look at her, blue eyes met hers, slightly wild.

“Are you?” Dani said softly. Grace closed her eyes and shook her head sharply, angry tears dashing out. “Of course I’m not. I’m not an idiot.”

Dani put a hand lightly on the other woman’s shoulder. “I trust because that’s what I do. That’s the only way we all live. We stop killing each other, we help everyone we can, and we send that monster Legion to Hell where it belongs.”

Grace looked at Dani like she was at the edge of a cliff, her eyes wide and helpless. “I don’t know how.”

Dani smiled sadly, squeezing her shoulder gently. “I know. I will teach you how, if you’ll let me, chica.” Grace blinked, obviously not expecting that answer.

“Grace. My name is Grace.”

Dani just nodded, her heart clenching with a flood of memories.

“Okay, Grace.” Dani stood up and offered her hand to the other woman, who took it immediately. Dani pulled her to her feet, noting that her back was a bit straighter than before. “Shall we find some dinner?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's starting to happen! :) I hope to be able to throw these two back into the action soon, and see more of Sarah. 
> 
> Thanks for all your comments! They're really encouraging.


	8. Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Grace finds a connection, and learns more about herself than she ever expected.

It took about two more weeks for the new outpost to be fully established. An encryption station was set up in some of the standing buildings of a local high school. Messages would be received, decrypted, then re-encrypted before being relayed on to their destinations, through any number of other stations. A small team was investigating the nearby countryside for suitability for growing food. Since Santa Fe wasn’t bombed with nuclear weapons, the soil around it was healthier than most bigger cities, but the arid ecosystem would present other challenges.

Dani had also asked for volunteers to start moving corpses from the center of the city to a mass grave on the outskirts. She knew Sarah’s opinion of using resources on such a venture, but it always had tangible results on morale for any workers or soldiers stationed in the area. The chance of disease dropped, and despite what Sarah said, Dani didn’t believe that honoring the dead was a pointless goal.

They all knew the machines wouldn’t leave this place alone for long once they discovered humans had returned, so defenses were established. EMP mines, pulse beam towers, mag-walls, thermite traps, and energy snares. Grace watched some of the defensive measures being placed from the top of a low building, a mix of amazement and incredulity on her face. She had been shadowing Dani since their conversation on the roof, too shy and combative to interact much with anyone else. It suited Dani just fine, though she still made sure to take meals in the mess, to put Grace into social situations.

“I can’t believe the technology you guys have. How did you manage all this?”

Dani considered. It sometimes still impressed her, as well. “A few years ago, we rescued a group of electrical engineers and weapons developers from a government lab outside of San Diego. Their projects were classified and unconnected to the Legion Project, so they had remained well hidden. We encountered them when we were pushing into California from Baja. Some were reluctant to join us, still hoping to keep the secrets of a dead country.” Dani shook her head at the folly of such blindness, driven by the same nationalism that would have seen her in a cage. She had never forgotten the feeling of surrendering to the violence and desolation of that terrible place on the border. It had been horrifying in a totally different way from the relentless pursuit of the terminator. A human atrocity. 

She was brought back to the present by Grace’s hand laid tentatively on her arm, a gently inquisitive look in her eyes.  _ Are you okay? _ Dani shook her head briskly, smiling up at Grace. “Luckily, most of them were eager to turn their skills to destroying machines rather than people. We have actually found a few such government labs, fortunately. People who had been developing aircraft, and medical technology. So we have made leaps and bounds with our defensive tech, and weapons. All are tailored to take out machine targets, destroying or disabling their core systems.” 

Grace smiled tightly, eyes implacable. “Good.”

Dani chuckled. “Well if you decide to join the fighting forces, you’ll be trained to use many of them. I’m sure you’ll be welcome, no matter what part of the resistance you choose to work with.” 

“I want to fight. And I want to come with you,” Grace said quickly, looking immediately like she regretted saying it. “If that’s okay.” 

“That’s totally fine, Grace. Just know that when we return to the main base, I’ll be much busier than I was here. I probably won’t have any time to show you around. And you’ll probably want to start your training as soon as you can.”

“Of course, Dani. I promise I won’t get in your way.” Dani felt a flash of affection for this woman.  _ Prickly girl _ .

“That’s not what I --”

Grace interrupted her, avoiding her eyes and looking slightly panicked. “I know! I didn’t mean to say it like that. I’m not very good at this” 

Dani grabbed Grace’s forearm firmly, startling her into making eye contact with the shorter woman. “It’s okay. I know what you meant. I just don’t want you to think I’ve forgotten about you when we get back to Lubbock.”

“I know you have an army to run, I’ll be okay. I’ll even try to talk to other people, but I can’t promise they won’t piss me off.” Dani chuckled, shaking her head.

“Trying is good, just don’t break any more hands. You’ll be among friends there.”

Grace looked sideways at Dani, gravel crunching under her feet as she shifted restlessly, something clearly on her mind. Finally she spoke up, words spilling out rapidly.

“I want to ask you something. Why are you being so nice to me? That first day in the mess hall, you saw me and looked like you were about to faint. And then you kept staring at me, even though you didn’t want me to see.”

Dani’s heart was pounding. She knew she had to be more careful with Grace, she didn’t want her to get hurt. "I -- You remind me of someone I used to know, that's all. Someone very important to me. Someone I lost." 

She suddenly missed her Grace so badly, that tears sprung to her eyes, her heart aching with a familiar pain. One that had settled deeply into her bones over the years, since that night in the hydro plant. She took several calming breaths, trying to keep herself from crying.

Grace was staring down at her feet, shoulders hunched a little. “I’m sorry for your loss, Dani. I know -- I know how you feel. And I feel bad that I remind you of this person. I know it must be hard. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s good to remember, even when it hurts.” Dani found it was true. This was a different Grace, a different person. And missing the Grace she had come to love did nothing to diminish the happiness she felt at seeing  _ this _ Grace alive and well. Safe with her.

* * *

Grace was strapped into a seat along the interior wall of the Dragonfly’s fuselage, alongside other members of the resistance. The high hum of the boosters was muffled by the armored skin of the aircraft. She sat across from one of the augments. At least that’s what Dani had called them when Grace pointed to the geometric scars of a soldier in the barracks. She had been horrified when Dani explained augmentation, unwilling to believe that humans would willingly turn themselves into machines. Would let someone slice them open and change them in such a fundamental way.

Maybe staring was rude, but she couldn’t pull her eyes away from the silver lines tracing up the outside of the man’s forearm, continuing under his sleeve, re-emerging to follow the line of his neck muscles, forming a V. But the worst were the two crescent lines under his eyes. Grace shuddered slightly, imagining the scalpel cutting, cutting, skin being peeled back. Eyes. What did they do to their eyes? Did they replace them? Cut into them, too? Were those the eyes of a machine now? 

The augment had noticed her staring, and winked at her, laughing loudly when Grace jumped and looked away with her cheeks burning.  _ Hmrph! You can’t expect people not to stare when you turn yourself into a freak of nature. _

Dani was seated up near the cockpit, talking to the co-pilot about something. No doubt something important. Grace was willing to admit she had been wrong about Dani. And about the resistance. It still hurt to know that this group of people was so close all the time Grace was struggling for survival, but now it was clear that Dani would save every single soul in the world if she could. And it was clear she planned to do just that. The toys that Grace had derided were the only way humans could get an advantage over the machines. Something Grace had hardly dreamed of before now.

Grace stared at Dani now. A safer course, since her attention was elsewhere. She was a lovely woman. Grace had seen that even when she was angry. A light seemed to shine on her and from her, lighting up the people around her. The people in the fighting forces all clearly loved and respected her, and with good reason that Grace could see. Dani was as warm and gentle with them as she was with Grace. How did she have so much love to go around? Grace couldn’t fathom being able to care so much for so many. She felt exhausted just thinking of it. Since her father had been killed, she had really cared for no one. That, it seemed, had changed. 

_ I’ll teach you how, if you’ll let me. _

Her heart had cracked open at that, and a tiny splinter of trust had sunk in deep. It frightened Grace in a way she had never felt before. To place such power over her in another’s hands. To make herself vulnerable to another person, when life had taught her that vulnerability meant death and pain. It was a terrifying thought. 

Grace hadn’t felt so safe in years.

* * *

Dani turned away from the cockpit to address her troops, face determined. “Okay listen up, soldiers!” 

Every one of them sat up straight and gave her their full attention, including Grace. She was getting into military habits quickly. Or trying to, at least. The chaos of her former life was difficult to shape into the uniform discipline of a soldier. 

“The sensors have picked something up to the south, in a small canyon, heading towards a known Legion prison factory. It appears to be a small party of seven Snatchers and two Redoubt-3s leading a group of captives. Shall we make a pit stop?”

The soldiers laughed and cheered, eager to kill machines and save a few lives. Grace could respect that, but her blood still ran cold. Up until now, her only strategy when faced with the unrelenting malice of Legion’s minions was simple: run. Run and hide. Don’t breathe loudly, don’t leave the shadows until the threat had passed. Certainly never seek the machines out. 

Grace realized that her breathing had gotten shallow, her heart racing. She felt a little faint. Closing her eyes, she leaned back and rested her head on the top of the seat back, trying to breathe more deeply. 

Suddenly Dani was there, on one knee in front of her, one hand on her elbow, thumb rubbing back and forth on Grace’s skin. “Easy, Grace. Just breathe.” Her eyes were filled with warm concern.

One of the other soldiers spoke up, “don’t worry about it, new kid, we all went through it our first time facing the machines.”

Dani snorted, “She is not going to be facing any machines today.” She looked back at Grace, saying sternly, “You’ll stay in the Dragonfly, since you haven’t had any training yet. We’ve got back up on the way already, so it should just be a routine rescue mission.”

Grace’s pride was a little stung, but Dani’s face allowed no arguments, so she just nodded. And she wasn’t eager to embarrass herself by running away once the battle was joined. She could be patient. Especially when her reward was Dani smiling at her like that.

Dani stood up to address the group, that air of bright authority radiating from her. “Okay, the situation is this: the target is in a low canyon, limiting lateral mobility, and tightening our landing zone. The second Dragonfly is on the way, along with a Hummingbird flock, and when they catch up to us, we’ll head in, along the canyon. Alex will exit on flyover to take out their turrets, and we will take the far position on the other side of the targets, ‘Fly 2 will take the near side. No machines can get past us today. They can report the attack when it happens, but when they’re all slag, they can’t report where we go.

“The focus is on separating the prisoners out and getting them on the aircraft, then rapid kill on the machines. Alex, once the turrets are down, you focus on eliminating the Redoubts while we protect the survivors and clean up.” The augment gave Dani a thumbs-up.

“You got it, Boss.”

The co-pilot leaned out of the cockpit door, “the others are with us now, on fast approach to the north end of the canyon. ETA: 2 minutes.”

Dani nodded, “We’re ready. None left behind!”

The answering shout made Grace jump: “NONE LEFT BEHIND!”

The vibrations in the cabin increased as the aircraft dropped into the canyon, racing just below supersonic speed between the rock walls. Everyone was steady in their seats, except for the augment.  _ Alex, apparently. I guess they let you keep your name, then. _

Alex was standing at the closed outer door, perfectly balanced and compensating for the Dragonfly’s movements effortlessly as they slowed. He had what looked like a massive shotgun slung across his back, and a large steel axe in one hand, the head and handle all one piece.  _ What the fuck? _ The rear of the aircraft swung around as the door opened. Grace could see the other aircraft behind them, and the narrow canyon walls sweeping past. They suddenly dropped altitude to about 20 feet above the canyon floor, Grace’s eyes widening as the rock seemed to leap up at them before flowing away as they moved over it.

Their speed dropped again, and before Grace could even register the small crowd of dirty humans and alert machines on the ground, Alex leaped out of the Dragonfly. Directly onto the back of what appears to be a giant metal crab, right next to a massive gun turret mounted above its optics. Apparently this is what Dani meant by “exit on flyover.”  _ These people are all crazy. _ She had to be impressed, though, when Alex sheared the turret off the machine in one blow of his axe before leaping to the ground and darting with inhuman speed to the other crab.  _ Redoubt-3. You need to start learning their names. _

The aircraft landed smoothly, the “legs” taking the shock and letting the soldiers keep their footing to jump out, weapons in hand. Half of them followed Dani into the heart of the fray, the others splitting up to flank the machines, joining the troops from the other Dragonfly. Grace watched, heart in her throat, as most of the machines turned to engage the soldiers. One, however, turned towards the huddled prisoners, its deadly intent clear as it raised its metal claws. This must be what Dani had called a “Snatcher”: a twisted monstrosity made of bright, silvery metal, its form a horrific, stretched parody of a human. It had four thin arms, hands with spindly fingers, designed for shackling as much as killing. 

Dani screamed with unbridled rage, astonishing Grace with her ferocity, dodging around the sweep of another Snatcher and raising her rifle to fire a round into the head of her target. It jerked, and spun its torso around at the waist, facing Dani and trying to stab at her abdomen. The slug in its head must have disrupted its reflex speed, because Dani dodged easily before firing another two rounds into its chest. The machine let out a piercing shriek before collapsing to the ground, writhing and twitching as it overloaded.

Dani’s squad was surrounding the prisoners to shield them from the remaining machines and guide them to the aircraft. Grace, and some of the survivors jumped at the sound of a small explosion as one of the Hummingbirds destroyed a Redoubt with its plasma cannon. Alex was still engaged with the other one, nearer to where Grace stood in the aircraft. He ducked under its shearing claws to fire his gun into its belly. It stomped on his thigh with one leg, tearing the skin and exposing a woven mesh beneath. Grace’s stomach turned a bit at the sight. The augment grunted in pain, reaching to his belt and grabbing a round metal object. He slammed it up against the machine’s underside, before rolling out from under it and dodging away.

Sparks and fire and an eerie squealing sound fountained from under the machine, and molten metal poured from under its upper shell, dripping onto the rock. The Redoubt slumped down into a puddle of its own innards. Grace grinned at the sight. 

She stepped out of the doorway as the freed prisoners were ushered aboard. There were eight people total. They all looked half-starved, terrified, unwashed, and in complete disbelief that a well-armed group of humans had appeared in fantastical flying machines and saved them from their fate. Grace could relate. She was gentle as she guided them to sit, yelling to the cockpit that they needed water, at least. One of the escorting soldiers saw she had it handled and nodded gratefully to her, before heading back to help clean up the remaining machines.

Frantic screaming caught her attention, and she turned back to the doorway to see something that made her mind go nearly blank with panic. One of the Snatchers had broken away from the main body of soldiers and was bounding on four limbs toward the Dragonfly. Towards her. The soldier who had nodded at her stood his ground, but got his gun up too late, taking a horrific wound as the machine snapped one of its free limbs out like a striking snake, straight into his side. He collapsed instantly, blood pooling rapidly as the machine jumped over his prone form, continuing its charge. 

Time seemed to crawl as Grace watched her death approach. None of the soldiers wanted to fire with the aircraft behind the target, and risk killing the survivors or Grace. Alex was sprinting, axe in hand, but he would be too late, even with all his enhancements. Grace looked past the machine to see Dani, her face rigid with despair and helpless horror.

That was what snapped Grace out of her frozen state. Gasping air, she glanced around, eyes falling on a rifle racked by the door. She grabbed it, yanked the extremely heavy barrel up, and pulled the trigger as the Snatcher leapt, arms spread wide as if to embrace her. The recoil was nothing. A flower of light bloomed within the chest of the machine, stopping it mid-leap. The light instantly flashed into a blue-white ball that slammed Grace back against the far wall of the aircraft. She was stunned, slumping down to the floor, still gripping the gun. 

* * *

How long was she sitting there? The door was closed, the boosters hummed low in the background. They were flying again. She blinked away spots from her vision, head still spinning as she looked up to see Dani and Alex kneeling next to her. Alex looking pleased and a little amused, Dani looked a bit nauseous, but relieved. “Uuunnngh. Fucking hell was that?” Her words slurred a little.

Alex laughed and clapped a hand to her shoulder (she was too rattled to even recoil from his touch), “That was a WAR rifle, loaded with plasma sabot rounds. It was designed to take out some of the most heavily armored machine models, and you used it on a Snatcher! You’re alright, new kid.” He started laughing again, shaking his head as he took his seat. 

Dani shot him a quelling look, and he just grinned and shrugged, trailing off to an occasional chuckle. She turned back to Grace, not looking her in the eyes, but examining her arms for burns, and prodding her back to check for any injuries. “I’m so sorry, Grace. I thought you’d be safe in the Dragonfly.” Her voice was low, for Grace’s ears only. When she finally looked up at Grace, her expression was filled with guilt, and a little sadness. 

“You did so well, though. You have good instincts. All those survivors would be dead if you hadn’t protected them.” She laid a gentle hand on Grace’s shoulder, thumb resting up against her neck. “Thank you.”

_ None left behind. _

“Dani, that other soldier. The one who tried to protect me, is he…?”

“He’s in the other Dragonfly. A medic patched him up as best they could, and he’ll be brought to the hospital as quick as they can fly him.” 

Grace looked down at the floor. “He didn’t even hesitate to stand between that machine and me. He doesn’t even know me. Why would he do that?”

Dani huffed a laugh, lifting Grace’s chin and looking at her with gentle eyes. “I think you know why. You just did the same thing. You stood between that machine and those prisoners. Without training, with every instinct screaming at you to run, you stood up.”

Grace nodded mutely, overwhelmed. She had saved other people, and herself. Had stood up to a machine and won. Maybe she was beginning to really get what this resistance thing was about.

* * *

They landed at the concealed entrance to the current main base of the resistance. To anyone unfamiliar with the place, it looked like another bombed-out pile of buildings, jagged grey formations of concrete and glass, rising like broken teeth. Dani knew exactly which winding paths they could follow to find a place with beds, and food, and the comfort of human conversation. The desolation hid whole communities. Someday she knew they would no longer need to hide. Children would no longer be born into a world under siege. The thought made Dani smile.

She looked over at Grace as they exited the Dragonfly. The taller woman looked around, eyebrows furrowing as she took in the shattered city streets, then looked down at Dani. 

“Nice place you’ve got here,” she said dryly.

Dani chuckled, lightly slapping Grace’s arm. “Don’t grow a sense of humor on me now, chica. I’m excited to show you what all this is hiding.”

They had dropped the rescuees off at the hospital before coming here. All of them had been terribly dehydrated and malnourished. Dani suspected a few of them also had infections or parasites. So they would need exams and a few days of observation. She said nothing about it of course, but the routine x-rays taken as part of the exams would also ensure that they hadn’t brought any infiltrator terminators.

The soldiers spread out slightly as they made their way down the streets, moving through buildings and into the lower levels of a parking garage. A massive metal door rose before them, thick and reinforced. Dani picked up a pipe wrench lying in a pile of seemingly random debris, and banged it against different parts of the door in a long sequence, then stepped back, tossing the wrench back in the pile. No electronic locks here, nothing that could be hacked by a machine.

The door swung up and out, slowly revealing a massive open room with a concrete floor, well lit, and filled with many, many people, all working on projects, reading books, sitting at tables playing cards, just chatting, or standing guard. An awareness cascaded through the room, the Commander was back! Many doors and hallways lead in all directions from the main room, hinting at even more activity beyond. Dani grinned at Grace, “Welcome home!”

Grace was simply staring, mouth slightly agape, one corner turned up in amazement. Dani laughed in delight at her reaction, looking around the room, trying to see it anew from Grace’s point of view. People relaxed, relatively well-fed, working together not just to tear down the machines, but to build a future for humanity. A large group was in a corner, focused on one person demonstrating how to dismantle and clean a shotgun. 

“Sarah!” Dani yelled, startling Grace. She ran over to the older woman, who told her students to “get lost, class is over,” just as Dani flung her arms around her neck. She clung on, squeezing tight. The class was still there, whispering “it’s the Commander,” until Dani felt Sarah growl at them. Literally. They scattered. Oh, how Dani had missed her. 

She whispered to the other woman, “We found her, Sarah. Finally, she’s safe.” The woman reached up to gently disengage Dani’s arms from around her neck, and pulled back to look over at the entrance, where Grace was standing awkwardly, shooting glances their way. Sarah looked at Dani with a smirk. “Well done, kid. She’s still a giraffe, I see. Bet there’s not as much metal in her guts, though. I may like her better, now. And you’ll be loads easier to live with now that your girlfriend’s back”

Dani glared at her. “None of that girlfriend business. You had better be nice to her. Well, as nice as you can, she’s a little more . . . anti-social than the Grace you knew. And I’d like to keep her guts just the way they are, thanks. She’s not going to become an augment if I can help it.”

Sarah scoffed, “ _ More _ anti-social. God damn. She’ll probably just shoot me on sight, then.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you can charm her with your sweet words, abuela.” Dani winked at her. “Let’s go introduce you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh boy. Work was kicking my ass this week, so writing was slow. But this is also a massively long chapter. XD I hope y'all like it! I'm hoping Grace's turn-around about Dani doesn't seem too weird. I know that when you have abandonment issues, you tend to sometimes cling extra hard to anyone who shows you trust or kindness. Plus Dani's pretty hard to stay mad at, lol. That was my angle with this.
> 
> As always, I appreciate each any every comment.


	9. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Grace finds a little more hope.

Grace was trying to surreptitiously keep an eye on Dani as she hugged the older woman warmly, chatting with her.  _ Who is Sarah? _ , she thought a bit sourly. An odd feeling she couldn't place twisted in her belly when she glanced at them. She sighed at her reaction.  _ You’re just one of many people, Grace. Dani has a whole army to care for. _

She made herself turn away, to take in as much about this incredible place as she could, gawking at the people relaxing around the room, the bright lights in the ceiling. How long since she'd seen a room lit with anything but a lantern? There was a dog over there. Not one of the vicious, rangy feral dogs that prowled the fringes of some cities, but a glossy-coated, cheerful beast, leaned against its master's leg. 

That resentment rose in her chest again, just as it had in Santa Fe: resources spent on animals, people relaxing and laughing while out in the world other people were dying. Only now the resentment conflicted with her confidence in Dani’s vision, and a bone-deep longing for a place like this. A place she could just rest for a moment. Maybe she could focus on something other than keeping her skin in one piece.

Maybe she didn’t have to  _ be _ conflicted. Maybe it was okay to want to help the people out there starving and dying, and to want a place of peace and comfort of her own. To want a home. 

Home. The word filled Grace with a flood of loss and yearning. It was unimaginable just a couple weeks ago. As far as Grace had been concerned, home was an idea that had died along with the old world. Her last vestige of home had bled out on the tiles of a convenience store, and Grace had been reborn into a world of desolation. 

She looked back to Dani, who was laughing, lovely brown eyes lit with happiness. Now she could have a home again, if she could just bring her heart to hold tight to it. To turn her resentment to purpose.

Grace saw that Dani was leading the older woman over to her, and she was suddenly nervous. This Sarah was clearly important to Dani, and so she would try to be on her best behavior. She stood up straighter as they approached, and Dani smiled warmly at her. 

“Sarah, this is Grace. She’s already killed one machine rather spectacularly, so she should do fine when she gets to your class. Grace, this is Sarah. She’s been with me from the beginning, and helped to build this resistance. She loves being called Abuela.”

Sarah snorted as she reached out to shake Grace’s hand, her grip hard and calloused. 

“Sure kid, but it’s at your own risk.”

Grace blinked, thrown off by the teasing tone.

“Uh, It’s nice to meet you.”

“You killed a robot, eh? Well don’t get too excited about it, there’s only about a few million more out there who want to kill us.”

Grace raised one eyebrow. Where did this lady think Grace had been all this time?

“Yeah, I’d noticed,” she retorted dryly. “Some of us had to deal with them on the outside, not stay safe in the world’s largest playroom.”

“Pay close attention, kid. You have no idea what we went through to get here. If you’d seen the shit I have, you’d probably be a corpse.”

Grace felt her cheeks heat up, and realized she was looming angrily over Sarah, who was staring up at her with a smirk. Dani was looking back and forth between them, an expression of fond exasperation on her face.

“Sarah, you should stop teasing her!” She turned to look at Grace, “Don’t take her too seriously, Grace, she has been like this since I’ve known her.”

Dani reached up to lay her palm on Grace’s bare upper arm. Her hand was warm, and seemed to send a slow wave of calm through her body. Grace backed up, a bit, conceding ground to Sarah, who looked completely unsurprised. Grace narrowed her eyes at the older woman.

Sarah chuckled, “Just ignore me, kid. I’m just an old woman with a sick sense of humor. If you can kill machines, you’re good in my book.”

_ So that’s how it is.  _ Grace grinned fiercely. “Well hopefully you’ll keep kicking long enough to see me kill the next one, Abuela.” 

Dani burst into surprised giggles, sharing her bright smile with both women.

“Come on, Grace. I’ll take you on a tour.”

* * *

Dani loved watching Grace’s expression as she took her through the halls and rooms of the base. Wonder and amazement, her blue eyes wide, taking it all in. Hope. 

They moved from the main room (Grace had called it the playroom), to the kitchen, where the cooks got creative with limited ingredients. Grace had looked around hungrily at the smells, and Dani promised her they would find some food afterwards. 

The military wing with a gym, training rooms, barracks, firing range, kennels, and classrooms was important, because Grace would be starting her training in a few days, and would be spending most of her time there. But what Dani really wanted to show her was what her people had termed the Revival Complex. It sounded silly to Dani, but it made sense.

The Complex housed some of her finest agriculture scientists. Farmers and researchers working together to feed their people. A seed bank, rooms of hydroponic vegetables, fertilized by the fish living in the tanks below. Rabbits and goats, easy to care for, good for meat, fur, and hair for making cloth.

Grace gasped as they entered the orchard. Dani could see tears in her eyes, and desperately wished she could reach out for her hand. Hundreds of fruit and nut trees growing under lights as bright as the sun, climate and light and nutrients controlled to forced the trees into a cycle of constant production. Bees were busy at work in the trees, buzzing back and forth between their flowers and the long banks of hives along the perimeter of the room.

“Unbelievable,” Grace whispered. She turned to look at Dani. “This is a miracle, Dani.” 

Dani smiled, “No, just the work of many people, over the years. If we can build guns and bombs and aircraft, we can grow trees underground.”

Grace just shook her head, “But this must take an enormous amount of power. How do you account for that?” 

“Geothermal power! Some of our geologists and engineers built a plant to draw power from deep down, under the basin to the northeast of here. It’s the only way we could find that Legion wouldn’t immediately spot. Everything else was too conspicuous.”

Grace was gazing at her, a lopsided smile on her face at her enthusiasm. “Incredible. Dani this changes everything. I- I always thought that, even if humans destroyed Legion, that we would still destroy each other fighting for resources. If this is possible, then maybe we can make it.” 

“My thoughts exactly, Gracita. I’m happy you like it here.” Suddenly Grace’s stomach rumbled loudly. 

“Ay, I talk too much. Come with me.” 

They made their way to the mess hall, which was busy with people eating their mid day meal. Dani spotted Alex and a couple other soldiers chatting at a table with a couple free chairs. The augment saw them enter and wave at them.

“Hey Boss! New kid! Come sit with us, I was just telling these guys about how Grace obliterated that Snatcher. I think they’re all a bit scared,” he leaned in and fake-whispered, “and a little turned on.”

Grace rolled her eyes at him. “Sure, it was so impressive when I bounced off the wall of the Dragonfly.” Dani flicked his forehead with her finger, making him laugh. 

“Estas hablando mierda, Alejandro. You better stop, or your superior officers may have to discipline you.” Her suppressed grin took any force from the words, and Alex snapped a salute, yelling, “Ma’am, yes ma’am!!”

Dani and the rest of the table burst out laughing, Grace shaking her head. They sat down, and a runner brought them each a tray of food.

“So, Grace, is it?” A soft-spoken woman with red hair asked. Grace nodded, mouth full of food. “I’m sure we’d all like to hear your version of that fight. Alex here has a tendency to . . . embellish a bit.” 

The others at the table snorted at this understatement. Grace looked reluctant, but eventually said, “sure, but I don’t think it’s much of a story.” 

* * *

Sarah wasn’t sure what to think of this new Grace. She didn’t have quite the mule-headed determination of her alter ego, but she had a backbone for sure. Certainly, she was just as attentive to Dani, clearly already hopelessly attached to her. 

As far as Sarah was concerned, that was for the best. Dani’s goal, aside from saving humanity, was to keep Grace from dying for her again. But Sarah knew the stakes as well as Dani, and had a colder mind. She reckoned that if they couldn’t stop Legion from sending an assassin back in time, this would probably all play out as it had before. And she felt better knowing that the seed had been planted for Dani to have one person willing and able to die for her. 

Grace shared Sarah’s hatred of machines, and feared them even more. Here was a woman who had lost as much as she had, at a younger age. Grace had suffered terribly, and with Dani pushing her anger away from other humans, it settled on machines. 

Good. Sarah could work with that. If she could shape that fear into caution and the anger into fighting skill, Grace would be a fearsome warrior. Exactly what the resistance needed.  _ And what Dani fears. _

But also what Grace deserves. Except for Dani, everyone Sarah cared about was dead. Because she had not been able to protect them. Grace had lost everyone, too. She deserved to have the ability to keep that from happening again. Sarah would give her those tools. 

Because in the end, Sarah knew she probably wouldn’t survive losing one more person she loved, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This is a bit shorter, and mostly my self-indulgent chapter about post-apoc society. XD But I'm hoping I'll have the next chapter up a bit sooner than next weekend. 
> 
> Also, I added a few songs to that playlist I made. https://draegaa.tumblr.com/post/189668471963/danigrace-playlist
> 
> Thanks for all the lovely comments. <3


	10. Enmity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Grace almost loses what she's finally found, and gains something more.

_ 10 Months Later _

They had been sent to defend the resistance’s newest base in southern Mississippi from ever-increasing attacks by Legion’s forces. The AI had been prodding the base for months, and their losses were mounting. So new units had been sent from other bases to support the defense. Including Grace’s unit. She was one of the newest soldiers in the squad, but she already had a respectable number of kills under her belt. Sarah had taught her well. Saying goodbye to Dani had been difficult, but she would be back. 

She had gotten closer to the Commander since they arrived in Lubbock. At first she was worried she was annoying Dani, following her like a lonely puppy, spending most of their extremely limited free time together, worried people would think Dani was playing favorites. Finally, she talked to Dani about it, all nerves and downcast eyes. Dani had looked up at her with those luminous brown eyes, a crooked smile on her face, one eyebrow raised. “I like being around you, Grace. And if anyone says I can’t have friends, they can try saying it to me.”

After that, Grace was hopeless. When she wasn’t thinking about her work, she was thinking about Dani. Daydreaming about her warm voice, her long, dark hair, full lips, and soft skin. Well truthfully Grace had no idea if Dani’s skin was soft, since she’d only ever felt her calloused palms, but it certainly looked soft. She imagined caressing Dani’s hips, running her hands up and around to her shoulder blades as they embraced. Imagined pressing her lips to Dani’s, fingers threading through her hair. These daydreams were accompanied by a vague feeling of guilt. What would Dani think of her if she knew what was in Grace’s heart and mind? Maybe one day she would have the courage to find out.

After basic training was over, she had entered field training, which was mostly survival skills such as finding food and shelter, and evading machines (like she needed that shit.) They also learned how to track machines and interpret size and disposition of forces. When that training was done, Sarah had taken over. She selected a few recruits and grilled them, teaching them techniques for taking down terminator models. Or slowing them down if they couldn’t be killed. 

After one session with Sarah, Grace always felt like she’d had her ass kicked by a pack of bat-wielding terminators. And her right shoulder was permanently sore, kicked by gun after gun. Sarah had three main rules for fighting machines. Number one was to "make the metal motherfucker think." Slow it down by any means necessary. Trip it up, lock the door, distract it. Every second counts. The next rule was to use the terrain. Make it work to your advantage. Set traps. From her stories, Sarah had killed many terminators, using everything from a hydraulic press, to molten steel, to an industrial turbine. The last rule was: use the biggest gun you can, as early as possible. The quicker you make the kill, the less likely you were to end up with your guts greeting the sun. Thus the sore shoulder.

Now Grace was hunkered down, cradling her gun, in the buildings of a small town, which concealed the entrance to the base here. That concealment was worthless now, though. Legion had successfully infiltrated and marked this base, and was now relentlessly pounding the people here with attacks. The last attack was a few days ago, which gave them some breathing room, and scared the shit out of the command. Legion never let up once it started attacking, unless something much worse was coming.

They were about to get a glimpse of that worse. Scouts on the town’s outskirts had gone silent, and the vibration sensors had begun showing regular tremors, getting more intense. Grace looked around at her fellow soldiers. Faces tight and pale, hands gripping weapons tightly, breathing shallow. She was buzzing inside, eyes wide, lip sore where she was gnawing on it. Fear and excitement and impatience vibrated inside her chest, her senses keyed up to every sound and smell and flicker of motion.

The plan was the retreat into the base, and lead whatever was coming inside, then slag the base with thermite and explosives, while everyone escaped out the back. They didn’t share projected casualties with the grunts, but Grace suspected the number was high. There were a lot of lives at stake, though. So hopefully they would be worth it.

“Heads up!” 

A loud, resonant roar announced the arrival of the latest Legion-birthed nightmare. From behind the building and down the streets, the machines marched towards them. Unhurried, inevitable. Terrifying, hulking beasts standing ten feet tall at the shoulders. Heavy horns sweeping out from the head, crushing paws with thick nails like a gorilla, and feet like wide hooves, split and spreading, footing assured. Legion’s machines were always designed to assault the heart and mind, as well as the body. These were like a monster Grace remembered from her picture books on Greek mythology: the Minotaur.

She shivered. A new model. This must be the test run. 

The soldiers cheered when one of the machines stepped onto a hidden trigger, a line of plasma lanced out of the ground, outlining the beast in blue-white light. Its feet had melted to the pavement, and the right side had a glowing rend running from hip to head. It made a bellowing sound, breaking off with a shriek like metal on metal. 

Several others were taken out by the various traps they had set, but there were so many. Grace set her rifle on her shoulder, and lined the sights up on the roaring mouth of one of the beasts. Pulled the trigger. A heavy metal round ripped through the skull, nearly tearing it from the shoulders. The machine barely slowed. She switched to a plasma sabot, her favorite since using it for her first kill. This gun kicked like a horse when she used them, though. Firing with a snarl, absorbing the shock with her torso, she planted this round straight in the machine’s chest. That familiar blossom of light ripped through it, flashing bright as it exploded. The thing took three more steps, and tipped right over onto what was left of its face. Grace grinned fiercely.

That grin turned to a look of abject horror, as the first machines reached the soldiers at the front. The first man died screaming as blunt metal teeth crushed his skull, biting the top of his head off. Another shrieked in panic and pain when one of the minotaurs simply pulled her arm off like a doll’s. The shrieks ceased when the machine slammed the soldier into the pavement, caving in her chest.

Grace snapped out of her trance as someone sounded the retreat. Her squad would be the first back into the base, making sure everyone was moved to the rear exit. A more experienced squad would be the rearguard, slowing the machines down, and giving the appearance of defense. Hopefully not tipping Legion off to the evacuating troops and civilians. Shouts and screaming followed them as they ran down the wide ramp into the base, emergency lights creating a dim, eerie path. 

Sounds echoed strangely in the abandoned base, encouraging silence as they moved from room to room, checking for people who had missed the cue to evacuate. They found no one left. Discipline was good in the resistance, and the threat of death by machine was motivating, Grace had found. Thermite charges and dynamite had been placed around supports and in rooms with machinery that shouldn’t be found by Legion forces. 

They moved down a long, long hallway, out the back exit, and found the evacuees already trailing away, heavily guarded by several augments and artillery squads. The explosives team was set up a few hundred yards from the exit, awaiting the order to trigger the detonation. Grace watched the opening like a hawk, waiting for any sign of the rearguard squads. 

Nothing. 

A trail of red smoke far away, back toward the front entrance. The signal that the machines had followed into the base. The signal to detonate. The head of the explosives team stood next to the button. Grace clenched her jaw, grinding her teeth.  _ None left behind. _ She thought she knew what Dani would say.  _ Wait. Just a minute more. _

“Wait!” She was surprised to realized she had shouted at the man about to push that deadly button. “Just wait a minute more. Our people are still in there!” What was she doing? They had to blow the place, or those monsters would come. 

“Private!” Her team leader was at her shoulder, pulling her away. “Leave the man to work.”

“To kill our people, you mean.” 

“Grace, just think about it. If you were in there, wouldn’t you want us to blow it. How many machines will we destroy?” He had a good point, but Dani would be upset. Of course she would be, but she would also understand. Lives would be saved by those lives taken. Legion was to blame, always.

Grace stood down, hoping it was the right decision. She shuddered as tremors rumbled through the earth, roaring sounding from the open exit. In the distance, columns of dust and smoke poured from the ground. She felt her chest aching, uncertain to her bones.

* * *

Dani was busy, as usual. When Grace had told her she was the hope of humanity, leader of the war against Legion, she had not imagined quite so much reading. Her life lately was buried in reports brought in from other outposts and bases. Her assistant Samuel was efficient at bringing the most important reports to her, and bringing her orders to the people who needed to see them, but even he was feeling the stress lately. 

The resistance was expanding, pushing against Legion’s hold, and Legion was pushing back. The exploration of a new path to California was going well, with the teams pushing into Nevada in the last few months. But on the Eastern Edge, her people were fighting tooth and nail for every scrap of ground. 

They had just lost a newer base in southern Mississippi when Legion attacked it outright, apparently testing some new frontline models, now known as Minotaurs. The loss of many lives, and the base, a spearhead into Legion territory, was a major blow. Grace had been there, and Dani’s heart had stopped when she heard about the many casualties. She guiltily thanked God for protecting Grace, when so many had died. She had not been able to think of an excuse to keep her from going. Sarah had taught her  _ too _ well, and her squad had many enemy kills, making them essential to the mission. 

Not to mention it really would be playing favorites.

Noah was still stationed out in Baton Rouge, and reported that the evacuees had been harried almost all the way to his base. Snatchers and Wyverns had picked off survivors, until a force could be sent out from Baton Rouge to reinforce the retreating troops. Legion’s tactics were brutal and effective, but the resistance would find a different way to push into the Southeast. Dani wouldn’t leave the resources and people of the Gulf Coast to the machines.

Other reports from the East chilled Dani’s blood. In addition to the outright attack on the base in Mississippi, three infiltrator terminators had targeted the highest-level officials in charge of bases in the East, including Noah. They had been attacked when they were in the field for recon missions, two slain without warning by what initially appeared to be low level soldiers. Noah had only been injured when his guard dog revealed the infiltrator’s presence, giving him enough warning to dodge a mortal blow. The casualty count from the attacks was 74 by the time the terminators had been disabled. 

She wrote out various orders to be relayed to all bases across the territory. Grace had been working some with Sydney at the kennels, and had informed Dani that about a dozen new litters would be completing their training in the next few weeks. She would have to assign most of those dogs to the more vulnerable bases along the fringes of resistance territory. They were the best means of early detection the resistance had. Her engineers were also working on developing security checkpoints with silent alarms that would be undetectable to infiltrators. She would give that project priority. With great reluctance, she also scrawled out an order for base leaders to request more volunteers for the augment program. 

One of the reports told her that coding classes were running full time here in Lubbock, as well as in the satellite bases in Santa Fe, Shreveport, and Chihuahua. Many promising students had been moved to these bases to learn the language of the enemy. Its DNA. Some of the youngest students were barely ten years old. Dani sighed. She hated that children were being recruited into this war, but they had as much stake in it as any adult. At least coding wasn’t dangerous. As long as they could keep Legion from finding out about the initiative.

Dani straightened up in her chair, stretching her hands over her head, spine popping loudly. She needed to take a break. Maybe she would head to the gym. As busy as she became, she never neglected her body. Physical training was centering, and a strong, fast body had already saved her life many times. 

Despite the stress of leadership, she felt anchored again. Whole. With Grace back from her mission, her family was here. Those who were still within reach, at least. She hadn’t forgotten her father and Diego. She never would. In her personal timeline, they were the very first victims of this brutal war. But her memories of them were cherished, and the horror of their deaths had faded, leaving behind the purity of grief and love. 

But Sarah and Grace, they were her family now, and they were with her. Even if they still sniped at each other. Dani could deal with that. Two women with hard heads and wounded hearts. How she adored them both. 

She had begun to see more and more of her Grace in the younger woman over the past several months. Military training suited her. An edge of discipline to her natural alertness, a new confidence to her movements, back straight, standing up to her height. It was always easy to see her coming, now. Tall, lean, utterly beautiful. It drove Dani to distraction, sometimes. Grace had let her hair grow out to fall messily below her ears, and sometimes it looked so soft that Dani had to stop herself from reaching up to caress it.

She had seemed subdued when she had returned from Mississippi, eyes a little dimmer, shoulders slumped slightly. Most people likely hadn’t noticed, but Dani was always attuned to Grace. She wished she could get her to open up, but didn’t want to push Grace to confide in her if the other woman wasn’t ready.

Dani was determined to let Grace come to her, if that's what she wanted. She reached up to caress the locket hidden under her shirt. She’d begun wearing it again, careful to keep it concealed. It didn’t feel right to put any pressure on the woman, knowing what she knew. She had no claim on her, just because she'd loved her in another timeline. Grace's words (and Sarah's, she'd later learned) had stuck with her through Judgement Day and beyond: "No fate but what we make for ourselves." Dani could make (had made) a place for her in her heart, but it was Grace's fate to make for herself. 

* * *

“Maybe I should have had a dog all those years.” 

Sarah was standing in the doorway, watching Grace work with Sammy, one of their newer pups. He had recently come back from his basic training and socialization with a family in the base. At one year, he was ready for detection training. Dogs could naturally sense the uncanny strangeness of a machine trying to masquerade as a human, but their panicked response usually let the terminator knew it had been made. So Sydney (who had bred and trained German Shepherds in the old life) had come up with the idea to train the dogs to give subtle signals to their handlers when they detected an infiltrator, instead of just going ballistic. Dani had instantly approved the project.

Grace’s family had had a dog when she was a little kid. He had died of old age about a year before Judgement Day. She missed being around dogs. (Well at least the kind that weren’t trying to hunt you down and eat you.) So when she was done with her field training, she came down to the kennels to learn how to train them. When Sarah was done with her, of course. 

She looked up at the older woman, “You seem pretty good at finding terminators without help, but at least you would have had company.”

“I had plenty of company when I was younger, kid. And when I got older, well it was best for everyone else to stay away.” Sarah laughed, “well that’s what I thought at least, until that spunky girl you all keep calling Commander showed up. I couldn’t have pushed her away if I tried.”

Grace fully understood. Dani was a star, and everyone else was in her orbit, drawn into her system, basking in her light.  _ God, when did I get so sappy? _

“One day you’ll have to tell me how the hell you were fighting machines before Legion ever took over.”

“Hmph, maybe.”

Grace rolled her eyes at Sarah, and turned back to her work. “Go bother someone else, old lady, I’m busy.”

“Good luck with your furry metal detector.” Grace could hear Sarah’s combat boots pounding down the hallway. Sammy sat in front of her, tongue lolling, tail wagging slowly. Grace reached down to pat his head, rubbing his ears gently. He had been doing well lately. She would have to take him to the mess hall, where there was always a distraction. The current phase of training was to have him sniff out a scent, then return to her and put his muzzle against her hip when he found it.

“Come on, boy. Let’s try something different.” 

* * *

She had one of the dogs with her most of the day now. With so many of them reaching the last phase of their training before deployment, Sydney was desperate for hands to help. So now she’s here playing cards with a few of her friends, Sammy’s littermate Gordy curled up by her chair, a drink in her hand. Even after nearly a year with the resistance, this felt unreal. For so long, the future had been a bleak, featureless void. Now she had something worth fighting for. Worth living or dying for.

And she had almost even gotten used to being around the augments. Almost. Alex helped with that. His personality was so bright and loud that even Grace couldn’t see him as a machine. Machines don’t show off how they can smash a steel food can against their forehead, or joke about being a junkie, or brag about their “terminator-like stamina” with a wink. She still had trouble seeing him as Sydney’s son, though. The dog trainer was so soft-spoken, showing a firm hand only with her dogs. They had both been with Dani since the beginning, following her as she saved more and more survivors, building the resistance into an army, then a vast community. 

When Grace had introduced herself to Sydney and told her her name, the woman had looked at her with what Grace would have sworn was recognition. But that was impossible, so Grace had brushed it aside as her imagination. 

“Grace! It’s your turn.” The table was looking at her expectantly. Alex was tapping his wrist, as if he had a watch there.  _ Shit. _ She hadn’t been paying attention to the game at all. She looked at her hand, a pair of tens and not much else.  _ Ah what the hell. _ “I’ll call.” She slid the chips into the center of the table with a confident smile.

Suddenly she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Gordy had his nose pressed hard to her hip. She looked down at him, trying to keep her breathing steady. His whole body was rigid, the hair on his back standing up in a crest. She leaned down to whisper, “Good boy, Gordy, track.” She wanted him to calmly walk to what he was sensing, hoping he could point out a possible terminator without alerting it. 

Unfortunately, Gordy had only recently started that phase of the training. He panicked, darting away from Grace and running toward a soldier who had recently returned from a scouting mission. He started barking and snarling at the man, shoulders hunched, front legs stiff as boards. Grace’s heart leapt to her throat as the soldier stared impassively at the dog, then with one smooth motion, impaled him through the chest with what used to be a hand.

The room exploded into action. Grace picked up a shotgun that had been leaning against the table and spun, dropping to one knee to balance herself. She fired several blasts in quick succession, ripping the fluid flesh off its face, revealing the black metal of the skeleton underneath. She bared her teeth, breathing heavily. A Rev-8. Legion’s wiliest terminator. Several other soldiers had stood up to shoot the intruder, too. It shot out two sharp appendages into the upper chests of the nearest soldiers, leaving them to choke on their own blood.

Alex flung his heavy metal chair into the machine, sending it flying across the room, before leaping at it, wielding another chair. He pummeled it mercilessly, before the chair was wrenched out of his hands. The terminator shoved him in the chest with both hands, staggering him. 

She jumped to her feet and fired two more rounds into its chest, pushing it back a couple steps. A calculating look entered its eyes, and then it tore itself apart. A monster of writhing, pulsing fluid ripped itself from the metal endoskeleton, reforming into the appearance of a human. A dead man reanimated and sent to destroy all he had fought for.  _ No wonder they call them Revenants. _ The skeleton turned to engage Alex, correctly assessing him as the biggest threat in the room. The dead man turned to sprint to the hallway at the back of the room. The hallway leading to the officer’s quarters. Hot rage flashed through Grace.  _ Oh fuck no you don’t, motherfucker. _

“Dani! It’s going after the commander!” 

Grace found herself standing shoulder to shoulder, blocking the hallway, with one of the other augments. A short, muscular woman named Olivia. “Stay behind me, Grace. I’ll slow him down, you go warn the commander.” Grace gripped her gun, knuckles turning white as she backed slowly down the hall, watching Olivia deflecting blow after powerful blow with a metal staff. “Go!,” she snarled over her shoulder.

Grace turned and sprinted down the hallway, boots pounding the concrete floor. She was panting when she reached Dani’s door, throwing it open. Dani was sitting at her desk, and shot to her feet as Grace burst into the room. She was already grabbing the gun under her desk before realizing it was Grace, her eyes going wide as she took in Grace’s appearance. 

“What happened to you? Grace, what’s wrong?”

Gulping air, Grace gasped, “A terminator. Here. Olivia and Alex are fighting it outside. Alex has the skeleton, the rest is coming for you.”

Dani nodded, her face turning grim and set. She crossed to the door, closed and locked it, then pointed at a locker in the corner. “Grab the plasma pistol in that drawer. Don’t use it unless you have no other choice, it’s an experimental model, and it may backfire.” She turned toward the door, gun already at her shoulder, mouth tight, eyes narrowed. With her hair down like that, Grace thought she looked like a warrior goddess. Beautiful and deadly.

_ Not the time, Grace. _ She put the pistol in her belt, standing at Dani’s left shoulder and bringing her own gun up as the noise outside got louder. What was happening out there?

The door suddenly dented with a deafening bang, pained moans coming from the other side. Then it slammed open, Olivia staggering back through it, bleeding from several stab wounds in her chest and belly. Her left arm was hanging limp at her side, her staff gone. She dropped to her knees, glaring up furiously at the terminator.

The machine spotted Dani immediately, turning from Olivia to its true target. It lunged forward with inhuman speed, and Dani fired. Several waves of small, razor-winged flechettes exploded out of the barrel, tearing through the dense fluid of the terminator’s false flesh. It was shredded, ripping into hundreds of pieces, falling to the floor and squirming to reassemble in a way that made sense to the machine’s mind. Dani kicked the pile apart, scattering it across the floor, slowing the reformation down.

A howling, resonant shriek sounded from far down the hallway, back in the main barracks, and the writhing black pieces on the floor went still, flowing out into a wide puddle. Grace stood frozen, confused and wary for a moment before realizing this meant the core processor was disabled. Alex must have finished the endoskeleton. 

Dani was already kneeling at Olivia’s side. “Thank you, Olivia. You are a wonder.” Two medics ran into the room, inspected the augment’s wounds. As an augment, she would heal quickly, but they still bandaged the deeper cuts and stabs. She was recovered enough already to be helped out of the room on her feet, arms slung over the medics’ shoulders.

Olivia laughed weakly as they were leaving, “Thanks for the bandaids, guys. I’ll probably need my drugs, though. That fight wore me out. Those fuckers are tough.” 

“You’ll get everything you need,” Dani said firmly, mostly for the medics’ benefit. The doctors that didn’t specialize in augmentation tended to believe augments exaggerated their need for the injections, withholding it sometimes.

Grace was still staring at the puddle, gripping her weapon tightly, unwilling to believe Dani was out of danger. A cool hand touched her cheek, Dani pulled her gaze around to meet her eyes, which were filled with warmth and worry. “Are you okay, Grace? You’re not injured, are you?”

She shook her head, unable to find words. The adrenaline from the fight was leaving her, and the reality was sinking in. At least two people dead, probably more. Gordy. And the machine had been in the base. Her home was compromised. Tears started to well up in her eyes, heaviness filling her chest, visions of the abandoned base in Mississippi. “Dani, we have to go. They know where we are now. They must.” 

Dani grabbed Grace’s hands, squeezing them. “No, Grace. We’ve had jammers in the base and around it for a while. It couldn’t have sent a signal while it was anywhere near here. And now it will never leave this place.” She cupped Grace’s cheek with her palm. Unable to fight the urge, Grace pressed her cheek into Dani’s palm, breath escaping in a long sigh. She would trust Dani in this, as in so many other things.

“You could have died, Dani. I’m sorry I didn’t do more. If I had finished training the dogs, if I’d been more alert . . .” She trailed off, overwhelmed and exhausted. She sunk to her knees, and wrapped her arms around Dani’s waist, face pressed into her belly. Dani’s hands came up to rest on her hair, fingers gently combing through it as she made gentle shushing noises. Grace breathed her scent in, letting it soothe her before realizing with a shock that she was practically nuzzling Dani. 

She jerked her head back, reflexively looking up at Dani to see a reaction. What she saw in Dani’s eyes transfixed her. Concern and longing. And something more. It spurred something in Grace, and she whispered, voice rough with emotion, “Dani . . .” 

Dani’s hands slid down to Grace’s shoulders, and she leaned down to place a warm kiss on her forehead. It felt like a brand to Grace. Forever marking her as Dani’s.

Dani stepped back and offered her hand to help Grace to her feet, squeezing reassuringly as she released her grip. “Come on, Gracita. We need to face what happened outside.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all like this one. It's poppin' off now! 
> 
> (Also sorry for killing a dog, but if you hadn't noticed, terminators are kinda dicks.)
> 
> I'm trying to pace this as a slow burn, but my god, I want to just smush these two together so badly. XD
> 
> Thanks for the lovely comments, as usual. :)
> 
> Btw, if you wanna see what Grace's hair looks like in this chapter, look here: https://draegaa.tumblr.com/post/189518082433/jetgirl78-twentieth-century-foxs-terminator


	11. Shockwave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our heroes follow a rumor.

It took Sarah and Noah over an hour of solid back and forth bitching to convince Dani that she needed a dedicated personal guard. Dani was terribly hard-headed about people risking their lives for her. The girl was smart, though. She knew what had to be done, even if it was hard. She was going to shit bricks when she found out that Grace would be one of those guardians.

When Dani had finally growled out, “Fine! Yes!”, Noah looked so relieved that Sarah thought he would faint. And then he just had to go and open his mouth again.

“Before we go, I wanted to ask y’all something. About Grace.”

Sarah tensed slightly. This was inevitable from the second they found the tall blonde again. She had told Dani that it was a bad idea to mention Grace by name to her followers, and Dani hadn’t said anything about her after that initial speech. But the damage was done. There were too many sharp people there that day, and Grace wasn’t such a common name that they would just forget it. Time travel fucked people up, and talking about too much shit could have even more fucked up consequences. 

“You told us about Grace on Judgement Day. We were all too shook up to ask many questions, and we would have believed just about anything after what we’d been through. But I’m asking now. Time travel? It’s real? And the Grace you found in Santa Fe, that’s the same Grace?”

Dani gave Noah a long, searching look. “Not the same Grace, but close enough. She came back from the future to save me from assassination. She died for me. Legion had sent a terminator back after me, and our resistance responded with Grace. She was augmented in that timeline.”

Noah nodded slowly. “So when the machines finally figure out time travel, we have to make sure Grace is ready to go. Do you think she would want to get augmented soon?”

_ Oh boy, here we go. _

“NO!” Dani had unconsciously brought her hands up in front of her. An attack stance. Her eyes filled with anger and determination “I will not train her up like some lamb to be sacrificed, force her to become an augment. She will not be sent back again! If Legion manages time travel, we’ll find a different way. A better way.”

Noah had moved back a step in the face of Dani’s righteous wrath. “Yes ma’am. I won’t talk about this with anyone else, you have my word.”

Dani relaxed slightly, face slumping into sadness. “Thank you, Noah.”

He saluted and left the room in a hurry.

“We’d better start thinking about what that ‘better way’ may be.”

Dani turned away, shoulders hunched defensively. Sarah sighed,  _ what a mess. _

* * *

Alex was the first volunteer for the Commander’s guard. Grace was the second. She had expected to be teased by the augment about her enthusiasm, but he had just nodded with approval at her. She had grinned at Dani when she came to meet her new guardians, but Dani had just given her a stricken look in return. Grace’s heart had fallen. Did Dani not want her there?

She had to know.

“I want to protect you! I want to help, and I have the skills to do it well.” They were alone in Dani’s room, the other guards stationed just outside the door. Grace wanted to make Dani understand that she  _ needed _ to be at her side. That she would die fighting to save her. 

“You do have the skills, Grace. I trust you completely.” Dani was sitting across from her at her desk, leaning back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling.

“Then what is it? If you need more augments, I will volunteer. I could have killed that thing if I had the enhancements.”

Dani sat up in her chair, eyes searching Grace’s face, tears welling. “No Grace, please don’t,” she whispered. “I don’t want you doing that. I don’t want you going through that pain, risking your life just for me.” Grace’s throat closed up at that. How could she not risk her life for the woman who had brought her home?

Dani stood up, and moved around the desk to stand in front of Grace, gazing down at her with sadness and love. “Please promise me you won’t do it. I don’t want to watch you go through that.” Her hand came up to Grace’s cheek, thumb stroking a crescent line just under her left eye.

Grace gently took Dani’s hand away, gripping it tightly and standing up to tower over the smaller woman. “I won’t promise you that, Dani. I’m sorry, but I can’t. I’d do anything to keep you, and this place, safe.”

She watched Dani’s face fall into frustration and pain. Dani pulled her hand out of Grace’s grasp and turned away. “I need to be alone. Tell them to wait a few minutes to send in one of the other guards.” A clear dismissal. 

“Yes Ma’am.”

She heard a choked sob as the door closed behind her, sending a stab of pain through her chest.

* * *

Dani felt the vibrations of the jets through the headrest, lulling her into a doze. Her and Grace had slowly come back into each other’s orbits over the past few weeks, not bringing up their disagreement, but unable to keep apart. Even when Grace wasn’t on duty as her guard, Dani would seek her out, or vice versa.

_ Dani watched the dog watching Grace, its tail wagging wildly. She could relate. How could she let Grace know that she trusted her and her capabilities completely, without revealing everything to her? And without encouraging her to put herself into greater danger.  _

Now they sat next to each other on the Dragonfly, surrounded by Dani’s other guards. Grace was the bravest person Dani knew, in her past, and now. Dani could see that the woman’s noblest instincts called to her, driving her to push herself, leap into danger to protect people. It was why Dani loved her, and what Dani feared most. 

And gentle touch on her hand snapped her out of her reverie. Grace’s fingers brushed hers, tips caressing Dani’s knuckles. With a glance, Dani could see that Grace was slouched over towards her in her seat, either asleep, or faking it very successfully. A smile crept across Dani’s face, a warm sensation filled her chest. She leaned into the headrest again, letting herself enjoy the contact.

They were on the way to Salt Lake City, chasing a rumor of organized human activity in the area. She had let the pilot know to come in low, through the mountains to the east of the valley. She hoped this would let them avoid detection by the machines that undoubtedly patrolled the city. 

“Commander! We’ve got something on radar. Looks like an outpost on one of the peaks. Think we can avoid it by going north around the mountains. There’s some nasty weather up there that should hide us.”

“Do it. Keep us as low as you can.”

Dani strapped herself in, and the others followed her lead. The aircraft shuddered as they passed into the blizzard, suddenly buffeted by strong wind shear. Grace jerked awake next to her, and Dani sighed as she pulled her hand away. A vivid blush stained her cheeks, making Dani grin inwardly. 

“It’s okay, Grace, just bad weather.” The other woman smiled sleepily at her, blue eyes crinkling.  _ Dios mio, she’s so lovely. _

Suddenly, Alex sat straight up in his seat, head cocked like a dog hearing a strange sound. “Oh fuck! Brace yourse--”

An immense impact shook the Dragonfly, metal screeched, and a wave of heat and pressure washed from the rear of the craft. Dani grabbed Grace’s hand and held on tight, heart pounding as she was pressed back in her seat, the Dragonfly spinning out of control. Flickering flames and frigid cold howled in from the tattered hole left in the fuselage, where the right rear engine used to be.

Dani looked over at Grace’s face. If they were going to die here, she wanted to make sure love was the last thing she felt. Grace was already looking at her, eyes wide with fear, but scanning rapidly over Dani’s face, as if she was trying to commit it to memory. 

The shockwave of impact shuddered through her body, slamming her head back into the seat. 

Blackness.

* * *

She had a dislocated shoulder from the crash. The force of it had shoved her into the soldier next to her, and something had to give. Hot pain radiated from the hanging joint, despite the snow that had been packed over the joint. Any movement sent a wave of nauseating pain over her body. 

Dani had a cut on her forehead (probably from some debris), and half her face was a mask of red. Grace had panicked when she’d seen Dani covered in so much blood, but Dani had calmed her, letting her know it was a minor cut. She’d gone straight into Commander mode, checking on everyone, taking inventory of injuries. 

Three soldiers were dead, two sucked out into the blizzard and slammed against the mountainside, and one fatally cut by a shard of metal in the initial explosion. It seemed that a Legion anti-aircraft turret had been tripped by their proximity, and blindly fired at them through the storm. 

The injured were being tended to with first aid kits stored under the seats. Dani herself came to Grace, ready to push her shoulder back into place. Her small hands felt warm on her chilled skin as the older woman nodded at her, letting her know she was ready. “Just look away, Gracita. Keep taking deep breaths.” Grace obeyed, trying to concentrate on the feeling of Dani’s palms on her skin. She still groaned with pain as Dani pushed her arm down and in. The grinding pain immediately ceased, leaving only soreness in her muscles. Grace slumped back in her seat, breathing heavily. 

“You need to keep that still, if you can. We’ll try to make you a sling for the arm.” I need to go take care of something, but I’ll be back.

Grace watched Dani move around, talking quietly to a few of the other soldiers, who moved to obey her orders instantly. The pilot and co-pilot were both outside working on building cairns for the three dead soldiers.  _ Danny, Eleanor, and Lee. _ She had just started getting to know them, when they joined Dani’s guard. Now they would stay here forever, entombed on a Utah mountainside, if wild animals or machines didn’t find them.

Dani was in her element now, radiating calm authority and positivity, making everyone feel less afraid. Less hopeless. Grace regarded her, loving her competence and compassion.  _ You’ve got it bad, kid. _ She could almost hear Sarah’s sardonic voice, teasing her for having a crush on the Commander. But Sarah never treated her as untouchable, why should Grace?

When Dani came to sit next to her, bringing sleeping bags and pillows along with dinner from a couple of foil pouches, Grace smiled at her. “You know, we’ll be warmer if we share.”

* * *

Dani hoped the plastic sheeting they’d put over the hole in the Dragonfly would keep the worst of the chill out overnight. They had plenty of survival gear in the aircraft, including sleeping bags and warm clothes, and the ship itself made an excellent shelter. But that blizzard was still raging outside, and the wind rapidly pulled the residual warmth from the ship. She could hear teeth chattering throughout the cabin, and her own body was shivering badly.

Maybe Grace was right. They would all do better overnight if they shared covers. She would have to ask her soldiers to pile up like puppies. But if that’s what it took for them all to survive, they wouldn’t complain.

She had them stretch out more plastic sheeting and pads over the open floor of the aircraft, and zip their sleeping bags together to make warm, wide covers. Grace insisted on sleeping on the outside of the pile, claiming that she ran warm and would be fine. In return, Dani insisted that Grace take an extra blanket. 

They settled in for the night, a couple soldiers awake to keep watch. Sleepy noises arose around them, reminding Dani of nights in the apartment in Mexico City, Diego and her father falling asleep nearby. She smiled and closed her eyes, feeling Grace’s warmth radiating from her left side. The woman hadn’t been exaggerating. She did run hot.  _ Even without her augments, she’s a furnace. _

“Sleep well, Dani.” Grace whispered next to her. 

Dani was already drifting to sleep, and muttered, “Buenas noches, Gracita.” 

She woke once during the night, not fully conscious. She hummed with pleasure, feeling Grace pressed firmly against her back, her breath warm on the nape of Dani’s neck, one hand snaked under Dani’s shirt, hot against her skin.

_ I love this dream. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that I have a Tumblr! draegaa.tumblr.com
> 
> Y'all's comments are giving me life. I'm so happy writing this, and you guys are a big part of that, so thank you. :)


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